IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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1.6 

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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  873-4503 


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«>    MP. 


iP.r 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  canadien  de  microreproductions  historiques 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibiiographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


V 


D 


D 


D 
D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


j      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur6e  et/ou  pelliculde 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  inic  (i  e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


□    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


D 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquds  ci-dessous. 


D 
D 
D 
0 
0 
0 
D 
0 
0 
0 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag6es 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul6es 

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Pages  detached/ 
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Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualitd  in6gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  material  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  dtd  film6es  d  nouveau  de  fa^on  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

7 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

D.  B.  Weldon  Library 
University  of  Western  Ontario 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grSce  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

D.  B.  Weldon  Library 
University  of  Western  Ontario 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  filmd,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  filmds  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commengant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  te!le 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END  "), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  —^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  etre 
filmds  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  gtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  I'angle  sup^rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


1 

2 

3 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

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A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF 


ANTOINE  DE  LA  MOTHE  CADILLAC 


FOUNDER  OF  DETROIT. 


BY  C.  M.  BURTON. 


DETROIT,    MICH. 
WILTON-SMITH  COMPANY, 

1895. 


M'-_ 


(Copyrtghted   by    C.    M.    Burton.    18»5.) 
''!>- 


irMi 


No. 27  Bbainard  St., 
Detroit,  MirJi.,  July  2 J,,  1805, 
To  THE  Reader  : 

1  wish  that  you  would  carefully  read  over  and  correct  the  accompany- 
ing sketch.  It  has  not  been  hastily  gotten  up,  but  has  been  co  mpiled  from 
such  material  as  I  have  been  able  to  collect  in  a  period  of  investigation 
and  collection  that  has  extended  over  many  years. 

The  manner  in  which  it  was  printed,  as  a  newspaper  article,  pro- 
vented  the  references  to  authorities  that  are  so  indispensable  to  all  modern 
students,  and  I  will  here  give  the  names  of  such  works  and  persona  as  have 
been  consulted. 

Of  first  importance  is  the  collection  of  the  writings  of  Cadillac  him- 
self; these  are  unpublished,  but  by  t!-'e  assistance  of  Mr.  Benjamin  F. 
Stevens,  of  London,  I  have  obtained  nearly  a  complete  transcript  of  all  such 
papers  as  were  sent  to  the  Department  of  Marine  in  Paris.  Cadillac  was  a 
prolific  writer,  and  I  have  nearly  one  thousand  manuscript  pages  of  his  com- 
position. I  wish  to  acknowledge  also  the  great  assistance  rendered  to  me  by 
Mr.  Stevens  in  collecting  and  transcribing  these  documents,  and  the  general 
interest  he  has  taken  in  this  work  for  me.  To  Mr.  A.  C.  de  Lery  Macdonald ; 
of  Montreal,  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  copies  of  i-ecords  and  documents 
sent  me  from  the  old  Notarial  records  in  Montreal.  These  also  are  in 
manuscript  and  several  hi;ndred  documents  have  been  transcribed  for  my 
use.  The  copy  of  Pierre  Margry's  works  which  I  have,  is  one  of  the  Paris 
edition  and  contains,  in  the  fifth  volume,  a  long  introduction  by  Mr.  Margry, 
which  is  omitted  in  the  American  edition.  This  introduction  is  largely 
devoted  to  the  lifo  of  Cadillac,  and  I  have  relied  upon  it  as  good  authority. 
Moreover  the  body  of  the  work  contains  many  refei-onces  t-o  Cadillac,  and 
transcripts  of  some  of  his  letters  and  reports.  The  works  of  Mr.  Douglas 
Brymner,  the  archivist  at  Ottawa,  have  been  used,  and  especially  am  I 
indebted  to  Mr.  Brymner  for  the  many  courtesies  he  has  shown  me. 

'''he  documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York  and  the 
Michigan  Pioneer  and  Historical  collections  are  full  of  interesting  matter 
on    this    subject.    The   Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,  and 


those  of  tho  State  of  Maine  have  a  few  references.  Tlio  Memoirs  of  Haron 
de  La  llontan,  Les  Amiiturcii  de  MoiiHieur  Robevt  Chemlkr  (who  started 
from  Montreal  in  1701  with  Cadillao),  I'^ronch's  Historical  Collections  of 
Lousiana  and  Florida,  and  Lu  Pa<ro  du  i^ratz's  History  of  Louisiana  have 
all  been  consulted  Much  information  was  derived  from  Benjamin  Suite's 
work,  UiHtoire  den  Canadirns  Franetiu,  and  from  that  {rrand  work  of  the 
Abbe  Tanf,niay,  Dictionnairv  (/enmloi/if/uc.  I  believe  that  Charlevoix 
had  access  to  the  letters  of  Cadillac  when  he  wrote  his  history  of  New 
Franco,  as  I  find  complete  sentences  transferred  from  the  latter's  reports  in 
Charle'voix's  History,  and  I  have  found  this  history,  especially  the  notes  of 
Mr.  J.  G.  Shea,  of  great  use. 

There  are  several  references  to  Cadillac  in  the  works  of  Mr.  Justin 
Winsor  and  I  am  indebted  to  that  magnificent  work,  The  Narrative  and 
Criliml  Ilintori/  of  America  for  much  light. 

After  this  sketch  was  all  printed,  a  friend,  Mr.  T.  P.  Hall,  of  Detroit,  who 
has  taken  a  great  interest  in  this  work,  handed  mo  a  pamphlet,  Quelques  Notes 
sur  Antoine  de  La  Mothe  de  Oadillac.  This  is  very  interesting  and  con- 
tains many  things  not  previously  found  by  me.  The  author  very  modestly 
omits  his  name,  putting  only  his  initials  "H.  A.  V.,"  but  I  decipher  this  to 
mean  "L'Abbe  H.  A.  Verreau,  ['resident  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Mon- 
treal." The  pamphlet  contains  a  full  transcript  of  the  marriage  record  of 
Cadillac  and  much  other  interesting  matter.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing  I 
have  consulted  the  records  of  our  own  church  of  Ste.  Anne,  of  which  I  have 
a  complete  copy. 

If  you  will  kindly  note  such   corrections  as  you  deem  proper  and 
attach  such  references  as  you  may  know  of  that  I  have  not  seen,  and  send 
the  notes  to  me,  I  will  greatly  appreciate  the  courtesy  and  make  use  of  the 
information.  liespectfully  yours, 

C.  M.  BURTON. 


A  SKETCH  OP  THE  LIFE  OP 


Antoine  de  la  Nothe  Cadillac 


FOUNDER  OF=  DeXROIT. 


The  fH'eat  Interest  that  all  students 
of  our  early  history  have,  an<l  must 
continue  to  feel,  In  the  life  and  ser- 
vices of  Antoine  de  la  Mothe  Cadillac, 
malies  it  permissible  to  place  before 
the  public  even  an  imperfect  bioRraphy 
of  him.  While,  perhaps,  there  is  no 
mystery  surrounding  the  parentape, 
birthplace  and  g-eneral  history  of  C.id- 
iUac,  sufficient  interest  has  not  been 
taken  in  the  subject  in  (hat  part  of 
France  where  he  was  born  to  make 
known  these  facts  that  ko  so  largely 
to  make   up  a   complete  biography. 

That  the  details  of  his  family  con- 
nections and  of  the  earlier  yoars  of 
his  life  will  eventually  be  made  pub- 
lic, I  have  little  doubt,  but  at  the 
present  time  we  must  content  our- 
selves with  such  slight  knowle<1ge  aa 
can  be  collected  from  his  own  writ- 
ings, a  few  church  records,  and  the 
conjectures  of  those  who  have  at- 
tempted  to   write   concerning   him. 

There  is  a  short  biography  of  him 
In  Vol.  IX.  of  the  documents  relating 
to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York, 
another  short  history  in  Appleton's 
Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  a 
better  and  more  extensive  notice  in 
Farmer's  History  of  Detroit,  a  series 
of  articles  on  the  same  subject  by  Mr. 
K.  Uameau  and  Mr.  T.  P.  Bedard,  in 
the  Revue  Canadienne,  and  references 
to   him   in   many   other  places. 

The  eminent  archivist  of  Paris,  the 
late  Pierre  Margry,  who  spent  his 
life  in  the  study  of  the  subject  of 
French    explorations    and    colonization 


in  North  America,  In  his  great  work 
on  New  F'rance,  says,  that  after  dill- 
gent  search  he  was  unabb^  to  find 
even  the  place   of   Cadillac's    birth. 

It  Is  said  that  he  was  a  native  of 
Gascony.  Gascony  comprised  a  large 
portion  of  the  extreme  southwest  of 
France  and  the  location  of  his  birth- 
place in  so  large  a  tract  of  country 
is  pretty  indefinite.  It  has  been  at- 
tempted to  llx  St.  Nicholas-dt'-la- 
Grave,  in  the  south  of  France,  as  his 
birthplace,  but,  at  the  present  time, 
I  am  unwilling  to  concede  that  he 
was  born  at  this  place.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  satisfying  myself  regarding 
St.  Nicholas,  I  had  the  parish  records 
examined  and  transcripts  made  of  all 
that  could  appear  to  pertain  to  this 
subject.  The  old  records  are  not  In- 
dexed, and  It  required  a  considerable 
research  to  ascertain  what  was  want- 
ed, but  I  finally  found  that  there  was 
born  Dec.  4,  Iffii.'?,  Antoine  de  Duimet, 
son  of  Jean  Laumet  and  Jeanne  de 
Pechegut. 

Cii«lilliie*H    nirth    nn«l    nirtii|iltici>. 

I  do  net  believe  that  Antoine  de 
Laumet  and  Antoine  de  la  Mothe  are 
the  same  persons,  and  while  it  seems 
impossilile  to  make  the  different  rec- 
ords accord,  relative  to  the  date  of 
Cadillac's  birth,  none  of  them,  other 
than  the  one  referred  to,  place  it  at 
so  early  a  day.  In  order  to  fix  the 
date-  of  his  birth  as  accurately  as 
possible  It  might  be  well  to  look  at 
some  of   the    subsequent   records    that 


would  tend  to  clucldatn  that  ovont. 
He  was  married  June  25,  1087,  iif  the 
age  of  twenty-six  years,  this  would 
muko  Ills  year  of  lilrth  Kitil,  In  17in 
he  writes  that  he  Is  forty-seven  years 
old,  this  would  Klve  his  birth  as  oc- 
curring In  1650  or  IWfi.  He  died  Oct. 
18,  1730,  at  the  age  ot  seventy-three 
years,  thus  making  him  born  In  1657. 
The  Abbe  Tant?uay,  In  his  DIctlonn.iIre 
Genealoglcjue,  gives  his  birth  as  oc- 
curring in  1661. 

Thus  at  the  very  outset  we  are 
met  with  questions  regarding  his  birth- 
place and  the  date  of  his  birth  that 
we  cannot  now  .satisfactorily  answer, 
but  taking  the  parish  records  of  Que. 
bee  as  authority,  we  And  that  his 
father  waa  Jean  de  la  Mothe,  Seigneur 
de  Cadillac,  de  Launay,  de  Semon- 
tel,  conseltler  of  the  parliament  of 
Toulouse,  and  that  his  mother  was 
Jeanne  de  Malenfant.  (It  was  cus- 
tomary In  France  and  among  the  old 
French  Canadians  for  the  wife  to 
retain  her  family  name  and  she  did 
not  take  her  husband's  name.) 

He  must  have  entered  the  army  at 
a  very  early  age  and  served  some 
years  in  France.  His  education  was 
excellent,  for  the  age,  and  his  letters 
display  a  fair  knowledge  of  Latin,  a 
good  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the 
Bible  and  th,^  ability  to  quote  from 
It  quite  accurately  without  copying. 
He  held  his  own  In  religious  discussions 
with  the  Jesuit  priests  and  where 
open  warfare  only  was  carried  on  be- 
tween them,  he  was  generally  the  con- 
queror in  their  war  of  words.  He  was 
a  cadet  in  the  regiment  of  Dampierre- 
Lorraine  and  a  lieutenant  In  the  regi- 
ment of  Clairembault  in  1677.  The  re- 
ports coming  from  the  new  world  made 
him  eager  to  visit  the  shores  of  New 
France,  and  there  he  went  In  1683, 
and  settled  at  Port  Royal. 
FlndM   n  Wife   in   the   New   World. 

In  the  city  of  Quebec  there  lived 
a  man  named  Jean  Guyon  v-,ho  was  the 
father  of  two  sons,  Francois  and 
Denys.  The  latter,  when  he  came  to 
man's  estate,  remained  a  citizen  of 
that  place,  married  Elizabeth  Bouch- 
er, and  had,  among  other  children, 
a  daughter,  Marie  Therese,  who  was 
born  April  9,  1671.  Francois  Guyon 
moved  to  Beauport,  where  he  became 
engaged  In  privateering.  A  French  pri- 


vateer was  exp'jcted  to  take,  pillage, 
and  destroy  o-  confiscate  as  many 
Kngllsh  vessels  as  It  was  his  good 
fortune  to  meet,  but  he  was  likewise  .; 
expected  to  leave  the  vessels  of  hla 
countrymen  alone,  or  to  give  them 
such  assistance  as  he  might  to  fr'ends 
in  distress.  They  considered  themselves 
In  government  employ,  and  while  their  > 
pay  depended  upon  the  fortune  they 
met  with  on  the  ocean,  they  received, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  protection  of 
their  own  government.  Cadillac  be-  o 
came  a  seaman  under  the  direction  of 
Francois  Guyon  or  with  him.  It  is 
very  evident  that  he  was  employed 
in  some  such  occupation  as  this,  for 
he  thoroughly  knew  the  coasts  of 
New  England,  and  the  bays  and  riv- 
ers and  villages  of  the  Atlantic  Coast 
were  familiar  to  htm,  from  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  shores  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

At  home  and  abroad  France  stood 
the  greatest  nation  in  the  world.  Aca- 
dia—Nova  Scotia— was  then  one  of  her 
possessions,  and  here  Cadillac  came 
in  1683,  and  made  his  home  as  we 
have  seen  at  Port  Royal.  On  one  of 
his  visits  to  the  home  of  Francois 
Guyon  at  Beauport,  he  met  and  fell 
in  love  wi*h  Marie  Therese  Guyon, 
the  niece  of  Francois,  and  the  attach- 
ment being  mutual,  a  marriage  fol- 
lowed at  the  home  of  the  bride  in 
Quebec  on  the  25th  day  of  June,  1687. 

Grnnted   Land   In  Maine. 

In  the  year  succeeding  this  marriage 
on  July  23,  1688,  he  had  received  from 
Governor  Dononville  and  Intendant 
de  Champlgny,  a  grant  of  a  large  tract 
of  land  called  Donaquec,  in  the  present 
state  of  Maine,  being  two  leagues  front 
by  two  leagues  In  depth  (the  exact 
size  of  a  government  township  in  Mich- 
igan, 23,040  acres),  and  in  addition 
thereto  he  was  granted  the  Island  of 
Mount  Desert,  lying  in  front  of  the  land 
granted  to  him.  The  king  confirmed 
this  grant  on  tne  twenty  fourth  of  May, 
1689,  and  Cadillac,  living  at  Port  Royal, 
made  preparations  to  use  the  dowry 
that  his  wife  had  brought  him  In  Im- 
proving his  acquisition  and  in  found- 
ing an  establishment.  It  is  probable 
that  he  went  to  live  on  the  Island  early 
In  1688,  for  we  find  In  a  census  dated 
May   11,    1688,    of    those   persons    living    • 


between  the  Rlvnr  Penobscot  nnd  St. 
Croix,  whom  Oovernor  AndroH  de- 
algned  to  drive  out,  the  followInK  en- 
try, "In  WlnscheaRe  Uay,  on  the  en«t- 
em  Hide  of  Mount  Desart,  Cadolick  and 
wife."  There  are  many  small  clrcum- 
Htancfis  that  give  U6  clearly  to  undor- 
Htand  that  at  this  time  Cadillac  was 
looked  upon  aa  a  man  of  conslderab'.e 
Importance,  and  the  grant  of  this  town- 
ship of  land,  with  the  general  rights 
of  magistracy,  or,  ae  It  was  officially 
tormed,  with  rights  of  high,  middle 
and  low  justice,  I9  only  one  of  the 
many  evldoncee  of  the  high  esteem  In 
which  he  was  held. 

PInn   for  CnptnrtnK   Now   York, 

The  abdication  of  James  II.  and  the 
election  and  crowning  of  William  and 
Mary,  and  the  harboring  of  England's 
fugitive  king  by  Louis  XIV,  had  cre- 
ated, or  rather  served  to  Increase,  a 
hatred  that  had  long  existed  between 
the  English  and  French  which  ultim- 
ately led  to  open  war.  In  January, 
1689,  before  w;ir  had  been  declared,  the 
Chevalier  de  Callleres,  governor  of 
Montreal,  then  In  Paris,  submitted  to 
the  Marquis  of  Seignelay*  a  plan  .or 
taking  New  York  and  driving  the  Eng- 
lish from  New  England.  He  proposed 
to  take  all  available  soldiers  overland 
to  Orange  (Albany)  and  after  the  de- 
struction of  that  post  to  rapidly  fall 
down  the  Hudson  and  attack  New 
York.  He  requested  that  the  two  ships 
of  war  that  annually  ealled  from 
Krance  to  escort  merchantmen  should 
come,  towards  the  end  of  August,  to 
the  gulf  of  Manathe  (New  York  har- 
bor) and  enter  that  port  on  his  arrival 
with  the  land  forces.  He  expected 
that  the  Dutch  of  New  York  would 
rather  3lde  with  the  French  than  sub- 
mit to  the  protestant  English  ruler. 

Callleres'  project  was  approved  by 
the  king,  and  the  two  vessels  chosen 
for  the  expedition,  Le  Fourgon  and 
L'Embuscade,  were  expected  to  be 
ready  to  sail  at  latest  by  the  loth  of 
June. 

Just  at  this  time  the  Count  de  Fron- 
tenac  was  a  second  time  appointed 
governor  of  New  France  and  set  out 
with  this  expedition,  which  was  under 
the  command  of  Rear  Admiral  Sleur 
de  la  Cafflnlere.  The  Instructions  to 
Frontenac,  from  the  king,  required 
him  to  proceed   with  Cafflnlere  to  the 


mouth  of  the  Ht.  Lawrence  River, 
where  he  would  be  trannferred  to  a 
mrrchantman  and  ho  taken  at  once  to 
yiiebec.  There  he  wouUl  Join  the  de- 
tiichmt-nt  of  Holdiera  which  was  expect- 
ed l(j  be  already  preparo<l  and  rea«ly 
to  march,  and  proceed  o\erland  ac- 
cording to  Callleres'  program.  Caffl- 
nlere should  proceed,  first  to  Port 
Koyal,  leaving  there  some  goods  he 
had  In  his  vesHel,  and  should  conlklo 
his  plans  to  the  governor,  Menoval, 
an<l  obtain  a  f)llot  recommended  by 
Meneval,  and  then  should  proceed 
straight  to  the  Bay  of  Manathe  and 
there  await  the  coming  of  Frontenac 
with   his  land  forces. 

Tli«'  I'lnn  MlM(>iirrit>N. 

(^afflnUre  was  delayed  by  the  making 
of  necessary  repairs  to  the  Embus- 
cade  and  did  not  sot  out  for  Rochello 
until  later  than  intended,  so  that  Fron- 
tenac did  not  reach  Chedabouctou  un- 
til Sept.  12.  Here  he  was  transferred 
to  the  St.  Francis  Xavler  and  s.alled  for 
Quebec.  Cafflnlere  sailed  on  the  Em- 
buscade  for  Port  Uoyal,  taking  Mx 
English  ketches  and  a  brigantlne  be- 
fore reaching  that  port.  (Charlevoix 
says  that  (Vifflnlere  was  unable  to 
make  a  landing  at  Port  Royal  on  ac- 
count of  head  winds,  but  It  must  have 
been  at  this  place  that  he  got  Cadillac, 
as  there  Is  no  account  of  his  taking 
aaslstanta  at  any  other  place.) 

Before  quitting  Port  Royal,  seeing 
the  necessity  of  having  a  guide  who 
well  knew  the  coast,  he  took  Cadillac, 
(^afflnlere  reached  the  harbor  of  New 
York  and  waited  some  time  for  the 
appearance  of  the  land  forces,  but  be- 
coming convince*!  from  the  lateness  of 
the  season  that  the  project  was  aban- 
doned, he  sailed  In  the  Bmbuscade  to 
France,  taking  Cadillac  with  him, 
where  he  landed  at  Rocheford  on  the 
29th   of   December,   1689. 

Cuililino  lit   Conrt. 

During  the  next  seven  months  Cad- 
illac remained  In  attendance  at  court, 
soliciting  employment  and  living  on 
borrowed  money.  The  time  spent  by 
him  at  the  court  of  IjouIs  XIV.  was 
not  wasted,  for  he  not  only  became  ac- 
quainted with  court  manners,  but  he 
so  Impressed  those  In  authority  with 
his  ability  that  their  Influence  was 
gained  to  his  advancement  in  every 
walk  of  hla  after  life.  "Success,"  says 


•The    Mnrqula    of    Seignelay,    Jean    Baptlste  Colbert,   was  a   son   of  the  great   Col- 
bert and  at   this  time  waa  at   the  head  of  the  department  of  marine.    He  died  In  1680. 


Maxgry,  "sometimes  takes  strange 
roads,  which  seem  to  lead  even  to  de- 
spair," and  so  It  was  with  Cadillac, 
for  while  he  was  at  the  court  of  FYance 
assisting  in  forming  plans  for  the  cap- 
ture and  destruction  of  Boston  and 
New  York,  Sir  William  Phlps,  with  a 
few  vessels  and  some  soldiers,  ap- 
peared in  the  harbor  of  Port  Royal, 
May  10,  1690,  and  demanded  the  sur- 
render of  the  post.  On  the  succeeding 
day  the  place  was  delivered  to  him, 
and  it  is  alleged,  contrary  to  the  terms 
of  capitulation,  some  portions  of  the 
village  were  plundered  and  some 
houses  burned.  The  governor,  Meneval, 
the  two  parish  priests,  Trouve  and 
Louis  Petit,  and  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  were  all  carried  to  Boston. 
The  church  records  were  probably  de- 
stroyed; a  house  which  Cadillac  had 
there  was  one  of  the  bulldingis  so  de- 
stroyed, "leaving  him  not  even  the 
value  of  thirty  sous,"  and  his  family 
was,  for  a  time  at  least,  a  British 
prisoner. 

With  the  exception  of  taking  the 
French  officers  and  soldilerB  and  some 
of  the  captured  property  to  Boston, 
the  place  was  left  as  before.  The  priest 
Trouve  was  exchanged  for  a  little 
girl,  Sarah  Gerrlsh,  granddaughter  of 
Major  Waldron,  of  Dover,  N.  H.,  whom 
the  wife  of  the  Intendant  had  bought 
of  the  Indians.  The  other  priest,  Louis 
Petit,  was  liberated  by  the  English  at 
Boston  in  1690,  and  returned  to  Port 
Royal  the  same  year. 

In  the  succeeding  fall  Phips  sudden- 
ly appeared  before  the  city  of  Quebec 
with  a  squadron  of  armed  vessels  and 
demanded  its  surrender.  In  this  at- 
tempt he  was  not  successful,  as  the 
sharp  and  enterprising  Frontenac  out- 
witted hJm. 

The  ex-governor,  Denonville,  in  1690, 
the  year  after  he  ceased  to  be  gover- 
nor, had  urged  the  completion  and  car- 
rying out  of  the  plan  of  a  general  at- 
tack on  the  English  In  America;  tho 
formation  of  land  parties  to  attack  Al- 
bany, New  York  and  the  settlements, 
and  the  organization  of  a  naval  force 
as  well,  and  he  wrote  to  th.^  minister 
that  Boston  was  not  pallsadod,  and 
that  the  population,  while  very  con- 
siderable, was  difficult  to  muster.  There 
were,  he  said,  at  that  Mme  three  per- 


sons at  Rochelle  who  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  New  England  coast. 
ar.^1  who  had  been  frequently  at  Bo9- 
to.i  and  New  York.  They  were  Mr. 
Perrot,  Sieur  de  Villebon  and  a  man 
named   LaMotte   (Cadillac  . 

Cadillac'*   Recommends 

Cadillac  had  already  remained  In 
France  riearly  a  year,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  3rd  of  November,  1690,  that 
the  minister,  Pontohartraln,  upon  Cad- 
illac's return  to  Ca.nada,  recommended 
him  in  the  following  manner: 

"Sieur  de  Lamothe-Cadillac,  a  gen- 
tleman of  Acadia,  having  been  ordered 
to  embark  for  the  service  of  thd-klng, 
on  the  Embuscade,  which  vessel  had 
brought  him  to  France,  his  majesty 
being  informed  that  during  his  ab- 
sence his  habitation  was  ruined,  hopes 
that  Frontenac,  the  new  governor  of 
Canada,  will  And  it  convenient  to  give 
him  ^dch  employment  as  he  may  find 
proper  for  his  services,  and  that  he 
will  assist  him  as  he  can." 

In  the  month  of  June,  1691,  Cadillac 
lost  all  the  property  that  remained  to 
him  in  bringing  his  wife  and  children 
to  Quebec  on  a  barque,  which  was 
captured  at  the  entrance  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  by  a  corsair  from  Boston. 
Frontenac,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes, 
though  not  the  express  orders  of  the 
king,  at  first  made  Cadillac  lieutenant 
of  the  troops  of  the  colony  In  place 
of  Sieur  de  Longuell,  made  captain. 

I  am  unable  to  p.scertain  at  present 
whether  Cadillac's  wife  and  children 
were  carried  to  Boston  or  not,  but  If 
thej  were  they  were  soon  set  at  .Ib- 
erty  and  returned  to  Quebec,  where 
the  parish  records  show  his  eldest  son, 
Antolne,  was  born,  and  baptized  April 
26,  1692.  There  was  a  daughter,  Magde- 
line,  and  possibly  another  daughter, 
born  to  them  at  an  earlier  date,  prob- 
ably while  they  lived  in  Port  Roval, 
as  the  Quebec  records  do  not  contain 
any  record  of  baptism  of  either  daugh- 
ter. The  parish  priest  at  Port  Royal 
(the  modern  name  of  which  is  Annap- 
olis Royal),  reports  to  me  that  there 
are  no  parish  records  there  extending 
back  to  that  date.  It  seems  very  like- 
ly that  the  intolerant  Puritans,  under 
Sir  William  Phlps,  destroyed  these 
ancient  records  when  they  took  the 
place   In    1690. 


9 


Catllllnc'D   Plnn   for  n   Deacent   on 
New  EnKlanil. 

The  idea  of  a  descent  on  the  New 
England  coast  had  not  passed  away 
from  the  court  entirely,  for  in  the 
same  month  of  April,  1692,  the  king  sent 
for  Cadillac  to  come  to  France  and  give 
information  on  the  proposed  attack,  he 
being  chosen  because,  as  the  mandate 
states,  "he  Is  the  best  instructei  on 
these  points."  Cadillac  drew  up  and 
aubmltted  a  lengthy  memorial  on  the 
subject,  displaying  his  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  entire  coast,  the  v.l- 
lages,  inhabitants,  traits  of  character, 
fortifications,  soundings  of  rivers  and 
bays,  and  all  other  matters  that  might 
be  considered   of  Importance. 

This  report  is  still  in  the  French  ar- 
chives, and  has  been  printed,  in  part, 
in  the  Maine  Historical  Collections 
(Vol.  6),  and  in  the  Revue  Canadienne. 
but  I  have  nowhere  seen  a  complete 
copy.  He  advised  the  construction  of 
vessels  of  light  draft  to  repel  expected 
invasions  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  as 
the  proposed  attack  on  New  England 
did  not  take  place,  he  returned  to 
Canada,  the  king  having  directed  the 
secret  building  of  the  small  vessels 
suggested  by  Cadillac,  and  the  com- 
mand of  them  being  given  to  him  by 
Frontenac. 

The  loyalty  which  Cadillac  showed 
in  giving  each  year  for  the  public 
good,  the  product  of  his  study  and 
skill,  merited  for  him  a  rapid  ad- 
vancement. So  it  was  that  after  having 
in  1093  received  a  gratification,  or  dona- 
tion fiom  the  public  treasury,  of  l.iVX) 
livres,  he  was  named  in  1694  ensign  of 
the  navy,  and  captain  of  troops,  and 
in  a  letter  to  the  minister  this  year, 
the  governor  terms  him  "a  man  of 
distinction  full  of  valor  and  capable." 
About  this  time  also  he  was  created 
a  knight  of  the  militia  order  of  St. 
Louis.  He  was  Intimately  associated 
with  Frontenac  during  1693  and  1694 
and  probably  was  a  sort  of  aman- 
uensis for  him.  He  certainly  knew 
the  private  correspondence  of  Fron- 
tenac, and  on  one  occasion  he  quotes 
an  entire  letter  that  the  count  had 
sent,  and  that  he  could  not  have  done 
unless  a  closer  relationship  than  mere 
friendship  has  existed  between  himself 
and  the  governor. 

Margry   sayji    that    OadlUao    had    the 


best  of  instruction;  he  had  ideas  con- 
cerning politics,  concerning  military 
affairs,  concerning  colonization;  con- 
cerning the  royal  power  in  its  rela- 
tions with  the  church;  on  the  conduct 
to  be  employed  towards  the  Indians; 
and  these  ideas  he  maintained  with  a 
certain  braggadocio  spirit.  He  v/ent  to 
the  bottom  of  these  questions.  His  let- 
ters, like  his  memoirs,  are  character- 
istic and  sharp,  and  James  Randot, 
the  Intendant,  writes  moreover  that 
he  had  a  winning  manner. 

At  ^Var  AVith   the  Je«altM.< 

The  friendship  that  had  sprung  up 
between  Cadillac  and  the  minister 
Pontchartrain  lasted  a  lifetime,  and 
both  of  the  Pontchartrains  felt  a 
thorough  dependence  on  the  reports 
they  received  from  him.  He  contin- 
ued to  observe  everything  and  to 
make  known  to  the  court,  by  means 
of  hlfl  memoirs,  all  that  he  saw  and 
learned.  The  selflah  interests  of  the 
Jesuits  would  not  permit  affairs  and 
transactions  to  be  made  known  that 
seemed  to  injuie  or  weaken  their  order. 
Pontchartrain,  Frontenac,  de  Calliere, 
Cadillac,  La  Salle,  in  fact  everyone 
who  did  not  live  directly  under  the 
influence  of  the  Jesuits,  despised  or 
feared  them.  This  feeling  of  dislike 
and  distrust  is  not  the  concoction  of 
the  present  day  but  is  disple.y^d  in 
all  the  writings  of  that  time.  No  let- 
ter or  report  of  Cadillac's  crossed  the 
ocean  that  did  not  convey  this  'dea 
which  came  to  him  perpetually  and 
in   all  his  walks. 

The  Jesuits  were  meddlesome  and 
never  to  t>e  trusted.  Organized  in  the 
sixteenth  century  as  a  religious  institu- 
tion they  had  accomplished  wonders, 
and  at  this  time  there  was  no  coun- 
try—no department  of  the  world  free 
from  their  presence  and  their  influ- 
ence. Their  gnat  power,  at  first  di- 
rected wholly  for  good,  had  come  to 
be  used  almost  exclusively  for  polit- 
ical purposes,  and  their  religious  call- 
ing was  used  as  a  cloak  to  hide  their 
vast  political  authority.  They  nearly 
usurped  the  functions  of  the  catholic 
church  under  Frerush  dominion  in 
America  and  drove  the  other  Catholic 
orders  from  the  field. 

Their  schemes  and  trickery  were 
met  on  every  hand.  Even  Cadillac 
feared  them  and  preferred    that  others 


10 


should   make    complaint   of   their   evil 
doings  rather  than  himself. 

He  writes  that  the  missionaries  will 
not  Instruct  the  Indians  In  the  French 
language,  but  he  hesitates  to  give 
the  reason.  "I  think  I  understand  the 
mystery,  but  some  other  may  reveal 
it.  At  all  events  it  Is  ceftaln  thait 
there  Is  nothing  so  Inconvenient  as 
to  see  people  (Indians)  who  come  every 
day  to  speak  to  the  governors,  and 
to  whom  no  audience  could  be  given 
If  there  was  not  a  missionary  at  hand 
to  serve  as  Interpreter,  and  who  veiy 
often  adds  to  or  subtracts  something 
from  what  Is  said  on  either  side,  as 
suits  his  own  interests."  This  un- 
derhand working  on  the  part  of  the 
Jesuits  Is  what  Is  complained  of  by 
LaSalle  and  others,  and  served  to 
embitter  the  life  of  every  Frenchman 
who  would  not  succumb  to  their  au- 
thority. At  the  outset  of  his  career 
then  we  find  Cadillac  antagonized  by 
the  Jesuits,  and  they  followed  him  to 
his  grave. 

Sent  to   Miiokinno  iHlnnil. 

In  1694  Count  Frontenac  conc'.uded 
to  send  Cadillac  to  command  the 
upper  Indian  nations  at  Mackinac 
(Mlsslllmacklnac)  and  the  picture 
which  the  latter  draws  of  his  intended 
place  of  residence  Is  very  sombre. 
"It  Is  the  most  terrible  place  Imag- 
inable to  sojourn.  Neither  bread  nor 
meat  Is  eaten  there,  and  no  food  Is 
to  be  had  there  but  little  flsh  and 
Indian  corn  Which,  most  of  the  time. 
Is  worth  fifty  francs  the  minot."  (A 
mlnot  was  about   three  bushels.) 

Before  he  had  started  on  his  journey 
the  matter  of  his  subsequent  quarrels 
with  the  Jesuits  came  to  his  Imagi- 
nation. "These  poisoned  memoirs  can- 
not go  down  and  cross  the  ocean  ex- 
cept by  means  of  the  missionaries 
who  wish  to  be  masters  wherever  they 
are;  who  cannot  tolerate  any  one 
above  themselves,  much  less  inspec- 
tors over  their  Interests."  When 
Cadillac  set  out  upon  his  journey  to 
Mackinac  In  1694  he  borrowed,  for 
the  purpose  of  trade,  the  sum  of  3,V>0 
livres  of  Francois  Hazeur,  of  Mon- 
treal (VlUe  Marie),  and  the  original 
contract  or  obligation  given  as  s;>- 
curlty  for  the  repayment  of  this  sum 
is  now   in  the  possession  of  our  fel- 


low    townsman,     Honorable     Joseph 
Belanger,    French    consul. 

In  the  record  of  "the  most  remarka- 
ble occurrences  in  Canada,  1694  and 
1695,"  It  Is  narrated  that  Cadillac,  who 
was  "captain  of  a  detachment  of 
marines,  a  man  of  very  distinguished 
merit,"  was  on  his  way  to  Mackinac 
to  replace  Sleur  de  Louvlgny;  that 
the  winter  was  very  severe  and  near- 
ly all  of  the  PYench  stopped  at  Mon- 
treal, refusing  to  proceed  further,  but 
that  Cadillac,  with  a  small  party,  bet- 
ter disposed,  pushed  on  to  his  new 
post.  Here  he  remained  until  1697,  en- 
gaged In  preserving  the  good  will  of 
the  Indians  to  French  Interests  and 
constantly  quarreling  with  the  Jesuits. 

The  great  fear  of  both  Cadillac  and 
the  missionaries  was  that  the  Indians 
would  join  the  English,  and  this  was 
earnestly  opposed  by  Cadillac  for 
state  and  political  purposes  while  the 
missionaries  opposed  It  from  religious 
principles,  as  they  looked  upon  the 
English   as  heretics. 

A  Mutter  of  Rum. 

The  foundation  for  the  quarrel  be- 
tween Cadillac  and  the  missionaries 
was  the  objection  the  Jesuits  had  to 
having  any  one  In  control  over  them, 
or  having  any  one  to  Inspect  their 
work  and  their  dealings  with  the 
savages;  but  the  avowed  subject  of 
their  quarrel  was  their  determination 
to  suppress  the  traffic  in  liquor  among 
the  Indians. 

Cadillac  affirmed  that  the  situation 
of  the  mission  post,  the  extreme  cold 
of  winter,  and  the  absence  of  proper 
food  at  all  seasons,  made  It  neces- 
sary that  a  small  quantity  of  rum 
should  be  taken  by  every  one  every 
day.  He  said  that  if  the  Indians  did 
not  get  the  rum  from  the  French 
they  would  go  to  the  English  for  It. 
and  he  then  asks  the  Jesuits  if  the 
little  hilarity  the  rum  causes  grieves 
them  so  much  how  much  greater  will 
be  their  grief  If  the  Indians  go  to 
the  English,  and  not  only  drink  Eng- 
lish rum  but  become  heretics  In  the 
bargain  ? 

"How  will  you  be  able  to  endure 
the  dally  exposure  of  these  neophytes, 
for  whom  you  feel  so  much  affection, 
to  the  excessive  use  of  English  rum 
and  the  Imbibing  of  heresy?"  But  he 
did    not    rest    upon    the    defense.    He 


() 


11 


i> 


accused  the  Jesuits  of  carrying  on  the 
trade  in  beaver  slclns,  with  the  sav- 
ages, which  was  contrary  to  their 
duties  and  the  king's  orders,  and  with 
the  surreptitious  sale  of  rum  to 
them. 

While  at  Mackinac  he  succeeded  in 
performing  the  duties  of  his  situation 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  of- 
flcers  who  were  above  him,  but  his 
life  was  made  as  bitter  as  his  Jesuit 
neighbors  could  make  it,  with  the 
constant  complaints  and   talebearings. 

Cadllla::'s  wife  did  not  go  with  him 
to  Mackinac,  but  probably  remained 
In  Quebec  at  the  home  of  her  brothers. 
The  records  of  the  notary  Basset, 
now  at  Montreal,  disclose  the  fact 
that  Madam  La  Mothe  engaged  men 
to  carry  goods  to  her  husband  at 
Mackinac.  One  of  these  agrreements 
was  with  one  Jean  Dlonne  and  is 
dated  June  6,  1695,  and  he  was  to  re- 
ceive 300  llvres  for  a  year's  service, 
and  un  couverte  (possibly  blanket), 
four  shirts,  two  great  coats  and  a 
gun. 

Another  agreement  made  by  her 
with  Francois  Hazeur,  Sept.  22,  1635, 
was  to  pay  the  sum  of  2,291  livres, 
6  sols  and  4  denier  for  goods  sent  by 
him  to  Cadillac,  payment  to  be  made 
in  1696  on  the  arrival  of  the  French 
voyageurs  from  the  upper  country 
with  their  peltries  in  September.  This 
agreement  for  the  first  time  to  my 
knowledge,  connects  the  name  of  An- 
tolne  de  La  Mothe  Cadillac  with 
Sleur  de  La  Mothe  Lusiere  (who  Is 
well  known  in  Canadian  history),  for 
it  was  at  the  house  of  the  latter  that 
this  agreement  was  drawn  up  and 
signed  in  rue  Notre  Dame,  at  Mon- 
treal. These  two  men  are  confounded 
in  the  index  to  Winsor's  "Cartier  to 
Frontenac." 

In  1697  Cadillac  was  recalled  by 
Frontenac,  or  rather  he  requested 
Frontenac  to  relieve  him,  and  Sleur 
de  Tonty,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
Tonty  who  had  been  with  La  Salle, 
was  sent  to  take  his  place. 

One  of  the  objects  the  French 
government  had  in  maintaining  the 
post  at  Mackinac  was  to  prevent  the 
English  from  entering  the  Indian 
country.  Already  the  English  were 
advancing  in  that  direction,  and 
claimed  the  ownership  of  the  land  by 


right   of  prior  occupation  and  Indian 
deeds   of   conveyance. 

For  II  Fort  at  Detroit. 

Cadillac  had  made  some  Investiga- 
tions while  at  his  post  and  condudicd 
that  a  better  plan  for  holding  the 
Indians  to  the  French  allegiance  and 
for  repelling  the  Engrlish  was  to  build 
a  fort  on  the  Detroit  River,  and  upon 
his  return  to  Quebv-^  he  laid  tills  propo- 
sition before  the  governor-general.  The 
proposition  was  kindly  received  and  a 
memorial  was  prepared  on  the  subject 
to  be  placed  before  the  king.  On  the 
27th  of  May,  1699,  the  king  wrote  to 
the  governor,  de  Caliieree,  and  the 
Initendant,  de  Champigny  sending 
them  a  memoir  which  Lamothe-Oadillac 
had  prepared,  containing  a  propositon 
to  establish  all  their  Indian  allies  in 
a  body  in  the  space  i)etween  Lake 
Erie,  Lake  Hur&n,  and  Lake  Illinois 
(Michigan)  and  directing  them  to  In- 
vestigate the  matter,  and  if  the  propo- 
sition should  be  found  practicable,  he 
wrote  that  he  would  carry  it  out.  It 
seems  probable  that  Cadillac  brought 
this  letter  in  person  from  France, 
where  he  had  been  a.i  attendant  at 
the  court  of  the  king,  to  the  governor 
at  Quebec.  A  few  days  after  the  writ- 
ing of  this  letter,  and  on  June  13, 
1G99,  Cadillac's  second  son,  Pierre 
Denis,   was  born  at  Quebec. 

Frontenac,  the  energetic  and  capable 
governor  of  New  France,  and  the 
steadfa.st  friend  of  Cadillac,  had  died 
Nov.  25,  1698,  and  the  new  governor, 
de  Callieres,  did  not  con.aider  the  ee- 
tabllshment  of  a  new  fort,  at  Detroit, 
as  practicable  as  the  re-establishment 
of  old  posts  that  had  fallen  to  decay 
or  were  deserted,  and  he  reported  the 
Impraotleability  of  the  scheme  to  the 
king.  Cadillac  replied  at  full  length, 
taking  Up  and  fully  answering  every 
objection  of  both  the  governor  and  the 
Intendant  Champigny.  The  result  was 
that  a  commission  was  Issiued  to  Cad- 
illac to  prepare  for  the  trip  to  form 
the  establishment  at  Detroit. 

There  were  two  ways  of  reaching 
the  upper  country  from  Montreal,  one 
by  proceeding  up  the  Ottawa  River 
and  over  its  many  portaf^es  and  thence 
into  Lake  Nlpla«5lnig  and  the  Georgian 
Bay  and  down  the  coast  of  Lake 
Huron;  the  other  was  by  coasting  the 
shores  of  Lake  Ontario  and  Erie  with 


12 


the  single  portage  at  Niagara  Falls. 
The  latter  was  the  easier  route  but 
was  not  now  used  because  the  Iroquois 
ranged  through  the  entire  country,  and 
they  were  warlike,  untrustworthy,  and 
at  the  present  time  openly  attached  to 
the  British  cause.  News  had  a'.so  been 
lately  received  that  the  English  had 
erected  a  fort  on  one  of  the  rivers 
that  flowed  into  Lalce  Ontario  and  that 
they  were  continuing  to  erect  posts 
on   the  shores   towards   Lake   Erie. 

For  these  several  reasonis  Cadillac  was 
directed  to  proceed  by  the  upper  route 
and  to  oome  down  the  coasts  of  Lake 
Huron  and  traverse  the  St.  Clair  and 
Detroit  Rivers  until  a  suitable  p'.ace 
was  found  on  which  to  erect  his  fort. 
From  expressions  to  be  found  in  some 
of  Cadillac's  letters  it  appears  that  he 
had  never  personally  visted  the  Detroit 
River.  It  is  very  probable,  however, 
that  some  of  his  followers  had  been 
there  before  and  knew  the  situation 
of  the  river  and  the  nature  of  the 
country. 

MiikcM   a   Stii'rt. 

On  the  2d  of  June,  1701,  he  set  out 
from  Montreal  with  100  men— fifty  sol- 
diers and  fifty  civilians— and  three 
months'  provisions.  He  took  the  upper 
course  as  Indicated  in  the  letter  of 
de  Callleres,  making  thirty  portages 
on  his  trip.  The  task  of  choo.sing  a 
proper  site  was  not  an  easy  one.  It 
must  be  situated  on  high  land  to  be 
healthful.  It  must  have  a  full  com- 
mand of  the  river,  so  that  no  one 
could  pass  by  unnoticed.  It  must  be 
in  a  place  attractive  to  the  Indians, 
for  It  was  proposed  to  Invite  the  In- 
dians to  settle  here.  It  must  avoid 
the  difficulties  that  had  surrounded  pre- 
vious settlements  that  had  gone  to 
decay. 

The  French  had  for  years  wandered 
and  hunted  over  the  lands  they  were 
now  about  to  ocupy  permanently,  and 
some  fifteen  years  previous  to  this 
time  (about  1685)  a  small  fort  or  block 
house  used  as  a  trading  post  and  pro- 
tection against  hostile  Indians  had 
been  bu'U  on  the  west  shore  of  the 
St.  Clair  River  near  its  head,  not 
far  from  the  place  subsequently  occu- 
pied by  Fort  Gratiot,  the  present  city 
of  Port  Huron.  This  post  also  bore 
the  name  of  Detroit,   though  the  mis- 


sionaries constantly  gave  it  the  name 
of  St.  Joseph. 

Cadillac  proposed  to  name  his  new 
settlement  Fort  Pontohartrain  In  honor 
of  his  f  I  lend  and  benefactor  Jerome 
Phelypeaux,  Count  Pontohartrain,  min- 
ister to  Louis  XIV.  When  Cadillac  left 
Montreal  he  was  accompanied  by  Al- 
phonse  de  Tonty,  then  a  captain  like 
himself,  and  two  lieutenants,  Dugue 
and  Chacornacle,  a  Recolet  priest  to 
serve  as  aumonler  or  chaplain  to  tiie 
garrison.  It  was  understood  that  Cad- 
'".ac  was  oppoeed  to  having  the  Jesuits 
connected  with  the  fort  and  soldiers, 
but  it  was  llkewse  understood  that 
theie  should  be  a  Jesuit  missionary 
among  the  Indians  and  Father  Vaillant 
was  chosen  for  that  duty,  but  he  only 
remained  a  short  time  after  he  reache<l 
Detroit. 

A  Joke  un   ii   Jeault. 

The  story  of  his  sudden  departure  is 
related  by  Cadillac  as  follows:  Fath- 
er Vaillant  had  been  trying  to  In- 
duce the  soldiers  to  return  with  him 
to  Montreal,  promising  to  pay  them 
their  wages  for  the  entire  year  al- 
though they  had  been  employed  only 
six  weeks.  Cadillac,  perceiving  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  soldiers,  quelled 
the  disturbance  in  this  manner:  "We 
were  still  encamped,"  he  writes.  "On 
leaving  the  dinner  table,  I  had  the 
soldiers  and  Canadians  assembled; 
Father  Vaillant  was  present,  but  he 
did  not  know  my  Intentions,  nor  that 
I  had  discovered  his.  I  asked  the 
Canadians  what  reasons  they  had  for 
wishing  to  go  back  to  Montreal,  and 
I  begged  them  to  tell  me  who  could 
have  Imbued  them  with  sentiments 
so  opposed  to  the  service  of  the  king, 
and,  addressing  myself  to  an  officer, 
I  requested  him  to  tell  me  what  he 
knew  about  it.  Father  Vaillant  ckar- 
ly  saw,  by  this  speech,  that  the  mine 
was  discovered,  and  that  the  mo- 
ment was  at  hand  when  he  would  be 
covered  with  shame  and  confusion. 
He  took  the  course  of  rising  from 
his  seat,  placing  himself  Immediately 
behind  my  tent,  whence  he  went 
through  the  woods,  running  his  hard- 
est, which  gave  the  soldiers  and  Cana- 
dians who  saw  him  reason  to  laugh 
their  fill  at  it.  My  tent  prevented  me 
from  seeing  him.  Having  asked  what 
cause   they   had   to   laugh   so,    one   of 


« 


I 

1 


13 


« 


i 


them  said  he  did  not  know  what  I  had 
made  Father  Valllant  eat,  that  he  was 
In  a  great  hurry  to  get  to  the  woods, 
and  that  by  the  gait  he  was  going 
we  should  apparenly  not  see  him 
again  very  soon.  I  knew  from  thesu 
renvarks  what  the  matter  was.  I  con- 
tented myself  with  explaining  to 
these  people  the  king's  Intentions  and. 
the  good  of  his  service,  after  which 
they  explained  to  me  unreservedly, 
the  cause  of  their  discouragement, 
which  arose  from  the  instigation  of 
the  father."  The  disappearance  of 
Valllant  ended  the  undertaking  to  es- 
tablish a  Jesuit  mission  on  this  side 
of  the  river,  though  one  was  after- 
wards established  on  the  other  side. 

The  Jesuits  believed,  and  very  prop- 
erly too,  that  Cadillac  would  under- 
take to  entice  the  Indians  from  Mack- 
inac to  his  new  post,  and  that  if  he 
was  successful  It  would  not  be  fong 
before  their  mission  there  would  be 
useless  and  deserted.  Their  complaints 
grew  louder  and  more  frequent.  It 
was  in  vain  that  Cadillac  asked  them 
to  come  to  Detroit  and  establish  a  mis- 
sion there.  They  knew,  or  pretended 
to  know,  that  Cadillac  did  not  want 
them  to  come  and  that  he  would  not 
use  them  fairly  if  they  did  come.  The 
Jesuits  came  at  him  from  all  sides, 
with  all  kinds  of  arguments,  and  car- 
ried their  complaints  to  every  listen- 
ing ear  of  their  superiors. 

Cntlilliiv'H  OiiitunentH. 

Behold  the  array  of  Jesuits  who 
entered  into  personal  and  wordy  war- 
fare with  Cadillac,  commencing  their 
tirade  even  before  he  had  reached 
Lake  Huron  in  1701  and  continuing 
until  they  had  driven  him  from  the 
post  he  had  founded.  Here  are  Fr. 
Bouvard,  Superior  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
Etienne  de  Carhell,  Joseph  Marest, 
Father  Bnjabran,  Joseph  Germain, 
Francois  Vaillant  and  Jean  Mermet, 
all  priests  of  the  order  of  Jesus,  all 
bent  on  the  destruction  of  Cadillac 
and  of  Detroit  in  order  that  their 
mission  at  Mackinac   might   thrive. 

The  vials  of  the  wrath  of  the.se  holy 
fathers  were  poured  upon  the  head 
of  Cadillac  in  a  deluge  in  the  years 
1701  and  1702,  and  he  answered  every 
letter— answered  them  all  so  conclu- 
sively that  he  was  sustained  by  the 
court    and    would    have    founded    his 


new  village  successfully  if  those  In 
power  had  continued  to  protect  him 
as  well  as  he  deserved.  On  the  loca- 
tion which  he  had  chosen  for  Fort 
Pontchartrain  on  the  24th  day  of  July, 
1701,  he  at  once  erected  an  enclosure 
about  200  feet  square,  of  oak  pickets 
twelve  feet  long,  of  which  three  feet 
were  driven  in  the  ground.  The  build- 
ing of  the  fortifications,  the  estab- 
lishment of  neighboring  Indian  vil- 
lages, the  laying  out  of  gardens  and 
•owing  of  wheat  by  the  soldiers,  Is 
all  told  by  Cadillac  In  his  second  let- 
ter, written  at  the  end  of  his  first 
year  at  Detroit.  But  Cadillac's  plan 
In  the  establishment  of  Detroit  was 
not  merely  the  founding  of  a  fort  as 
a  protection  for  the  French  and  their 
Indian  allies  against  the  Iroquois  and 
English,  but  he  proposed  to  found  a 
colony— to  people  America  with 
Frenchmen— not  men  who  would  come 
to  the  west  and  trade  and  then  re- 
turn to  Montreal  and  Quebec,  but 
with  men  who  would  live  there,  raise 
families,  cultivate  the  soil,  and  make 
permanent  improvements— make  North 
America  in  fact,  as  It  was  In  name, 
New    France. 

AHks  fuir   Settlers. 

Before  starting  for  the  West  and 
on  the  18th  of  October,  1700,  he  had 
written  to  the  French  minister  that 
In  order  to  accomplish  the  objects  of 
the  establishment  of  a  post  at  De- 
troit, the  sending  of  a  garrison  only 
would  not  answer  the  purpose.  He 
wanted  fifty  soldiers  and  fifty  civil- 
ians the  first  year.  The  second  year 
he  proposed  to  have  the  fortifications 
compietetl  and  tJien  desired  twenty 
or  thirty  families  to  be  sent  there. 
He  also  desired  the  king  to  send  200 
young  men  of  different  trades.  He 
wanted  missions  established  among 
the  Indians  and  a  seminary  and  school 
provided  for  the  young  Indians  where 
they  could  be  taught  the  French  lan- 
guage. As  time  progressed  he  pro- 
posed that  the  Ursulines,  or  other 
nuns,  should  have  a  house  there  and 
that  a  hospital   be   provided. 

Soldiers  and  C^anadlane  were  to  be 
encouraged  to  marry  the  Indian  maid- 
ens, when  the  latter  had  been  fully 
Instructed  in  their  religious  duties,  as 
such  marriages  would  tend  to  strength- 
en the  friendship  of  the  Indian  tribes. 


14 


None  of  his  people  were  to  be  per- 
mitted to  trade  directly  with  the  In- 
llans  for  their  furs,  as  this  privilege 
was  reserved  for  the  company  of  the 
colony,  and  the  company's  agents  were 
to  be  established  at  the  new  post. 
These  were  the  proposaln  Cadillac  made 
before  setting  out  for  the  West,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  If  his  plane 
had  not  miscarried  Detroit  would  have 
equaled  Montreal  and  Quebec  within 
the    lifetime   of   Its    founder. 

Cadillac's  p'.ans  were  accepted,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  acted  upon  at  once. 
The  fort  being  well  under  way  and 
everyone  being  happy  and  contented, 
CadiKac  sent  Lieutenant  Chacornacle 
with  five  men  back  to  Quebec  to  bear 
the  tidings  of  their  .summer's  work, 
and  Chacornacle  proceeded  directly  to 
France  to  place  the  plans  of  Cadillac 
for  the  future  personally  before  the 
minister. 

Growth    In    Popniiitlnn. 

So  well  had  Cadillac  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  his  frontier  city  that  before 
eight  months'  had  passed  away  it  had 
a  population  that  was  not  again 
equaled  in  number  for  nearly  one 
hundred  and  Hfty  year-t.  Behold  the 
city  built  by  the  Aladdin's  lamp  that 
our  hero  carried!  When  the  first  year 
had  rolled  around,  Cadillac  wrote  to  the 
minister:  "All  that  I  have  the  honor 
to  state  to  you  has  been  done  in  one 
year,  without  its  having  cost  the  king 
a  cent  and  without  costing  the  com- 
pany more  than  it  ought,  and  in  twelve 
months  we  have  put  ourse'.vera  in  a  po- 
sition to  do  without  provisions  from 
Canada  forever,  and  all  this  undertak- 
ing wafl  carried  out  with  three  months' 
provisions,  which  I  took  when  I  set 
out  from  Montreal,  which  were  con- 
sumed in  the  course  of  the  journey. 
This  proves  whether  Detroit  Is  a  de- 
Hirab'.e  or  an  undesirable  country.  Be- 
sides this  nearly  SIX  THOUSAND 
mouths  of  different  tribes  wintered 
there,  as  everyone  knows.  This  Is  the 
Paradise   of   North   America." 

With  such  glowing  accounts  as  these 
—with  the  establishment  of  a  city  in 
the  wlldernes-— it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  thit  great  faith  was  placed  in  his 
ability  by  those  in  authority.  Nor  ie 
it  likewise  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
thunders  of  the  Jesuits  should  be 
turned  against  the  man  who  was  pow- 


erful enough  and  attractive  enough  to 
draw  the  Indians  from  their  missions 
and  ruin  them. 

"Better  sin  against  Ood  than  a«aln«t 
a  .Iet?uit,"  he  wrote.  If  one  desired  to 
live  In  peace  among  them,  but  he  was 
resolute  in  his  determination  to  estab- 
lish Detroit,  even  at  the  expense  of 
the  surrounding  minions.  He  had  in- 
vited Carhell,  the  missionary  of  Macki- 
nac, to  come  to  Detroit,  but  the  per- 
sistent refusal  of  the  missionary  to 
comply  angered  Cadillac,  and  he  wrote: 
"This  autumn  I  hope  to  tear  the  last 
feather  from  his  wing,  convincing  this 
obstinate  vicar  that  he  will  die  In  his 
parish,  having  no  parishioners  to  bury 
him."  But  Cadillac  did  not  comprethend 
the  power  of  that  formidable  society 
whose   anger  he  had   roused. 

Cndllltte'R  Bnerisetic  Witr. 

One  cannot  help  admiring  the  pluck 
and  courage  of  Cadillac's  wife,  who, 
through  his  entire  life,  was  his  he'p- 
meet  In  every  sense  of  the  word.  When 
he  was  at  Mackinac  in  1694,  she  it  vras 
who  acted  as  agent  for  him  In  Quebec 
and  Montreal,  taking  charge  of  his 
business  there,  borrowing  money,  en- 
tering into  trading  schemes  and  send- 
ing goods  to  him.  A  business  woman 
of  the  long  ago,  at  a  time  "hen  it  is 
supposed  that  women  did  r  t  under- 
take auch  work,  but  the  leconJs  at 
Montreal  fully  determine  the  enter- 
prising character  of  the  woman.  It 
was  probably  arranged  before  Cadillac 
left  Quebec  In  the  first  instance-  that 
his  wife  would  follow  him  as  speedily 
as  possible,  and  Father  Anjabran  (or 
Enjabranj,  a  Jesuit  priest  and  friend 
of  Cadillac,  was  requested  to  act  as 
an  escort  to  Madam  La  Mothe  and 
Madam  Tonty,  wife  of  Captain  Tonty, 
on  their  journey  to  Detroit,  but  the 
prieiJt  found  himself  unable  to  comply 
with   the  reauest. 

MadJm  La  Mothe  was  at  Throe  Riv- 
ers Aug.  30,  1701,  and  on  the  10th  of 
September  the  two  ladles,  with  their 
e:cort,  left  Montreal  and  reached  Fort 
Frontenac  (modern  Kingston)  on  the 
2'ii  of  September.  Here  they  paased 
the  winter,  and  early  in  the  spring  of 
1702  reached  Detroit.  They  were  re- 
ceived with  many  evidences  of  affec- 
tion and  surprise  by  the  Indians.  The 
Iroquois  were  the  best  pleased  and 
most  enthusiastic  of  those  to  welcome 


15 


^1 


them,  as  their  coming  wae  an  evidence 
of  continued  good  will  of  the  French 
towards  their  natlonn. 

.  Detruit'H  Trn«le. 

It  appears  that  when  the  proposal 
was  first  made  to  establish  Detroit, 
Cadillac  supposed  the  trade  of  the  new 
place  would  be  put  in  his  hands  as  his 
property,  under  the  same  conditions 
that  the  trade  of  the  Illinois  country 
had  been  granted  to  La  Salle,  and  Cad- 
lilac,  in  one  of  hie  letters,  states  that 
If  he  had  known  that  the  company  of 
the  colony  was  to  have  the  trade  of 
Detroit  he  would  not  nave  undertaken 
its  establishment.  The  West  India 
Company  had,  in  1664,  been  granted 
the  entire  trade  of  Canada.  They  paid 
nothing  for  this  monopoly  directly  to 
the  king,  but  they  were  obliged  to 
supply  aufflclent  priests  for  the  entire 
possessions,  to  build  forts  and  warships, 
preserve  peace  or  make  war,  as  the 
situation  required,  appoint  and  pay 
the  Judges  and  generally  to  carry  on 
the  details  of  the  government  as  the 
king  would  11  it  was  under  his  imme- 
diate charge.  This  monopoly  was  to 
last  forty  years. 

The  sovereign  council  of  Quebec, 
which  was  established  in  1663,  was  to 
con.oist  of  the  governor,  bishop,  intend- 
ant  ami  four  councillors  to  be  chosen 
by"  them  annually  and  the  crown  at- 
torney. They  had  general  charge  of 
the  management  of  all  affairs  of  Now 
France,  and  fixed  the  rates  at  which 
goods  should  be  sold  by  the  Weet  India 
Company.  The  company  lost  money  by 
the  enterprise  which  they  had  under- 
taken, and  was  dissolved  by  an  edict 
of  the  king  in  1674. 

The  Company   at  the  Colony. 

The  dearth  of  published  materials 
relative  to  the  formation  of  the  Com- 
pany of  the  Colony  makes  it  difficult 
to  ascertain  just  who  composed  the 
company  and  what  its  rig. its  were. 
It  would  seem  that  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal citizens  of  Quebec  (Cadillac 
among  them),  Oct.  3,  1699,  sent  a  depu- 
tation from  that  city*  to  Versailles 
to  solicit  from  the  king  the  privilege 
of  forming  a  new  company  to  have 
general  charge  of  the  beaver  trade 
of  Canada,  and  that  this  deputation 
organized  the  new  company  about  the 
time  that  Ca<|Ulac  completed  his 
scheme  for  his  colony.  If  this  explana- 


tion of  the  formation  of  the  new  com- 
pany Is  correct,  It  follows  that  at 
the  time  we  speak  of  there  was  no  com- 
pany that  could  have  the  charge  of 
the  new  colony  of  Cadillac  and  he 
was  Justified  In  considering  himself 
the  exclusive  owner  of  the  new  post 
and  of  Its  trade. 

This  was  a  privilege  that  had  been 
granteil  to  LaSalle  some  years  before, 
at  his  settlement  in  the  Illinois  coun- 
try, and  Cadillac's  rights  and  privil- 
eges were  supposed  by  him  to  be  sep- 
arate an']  distinct  from  the  super- 
vision and  control  of  the  Company 
of   the   Colony. 

Indeed  it  would  seem  as  this  was 
the  only  practicable  way  of  colonis- 
ing the  west  at  that  time.  The  com- 
pany  were  never  anxious  to  colonize. 
They  wanted  immediate  returns  for 
moneys  expended,  and  were  not  will- 
ing to  wait  for  the  slow  growth  and 
uncertainties  of  colonization  schem'es. 
For  the  benefit  of  the  company  every 
one  must  turn  hunter  or  trader  and 
bring  to  the,  store  houses  of  the  com- 
pany all  the  furs  obtainable.  Coloniza- 
tion did  not  depend  on  the  hunter, 
except  to  furnish  a  portion  of  the 
farmer's  food  and  clothing.  Cadillac 
wanted  his  civilians  to  turn  farmer, 
to  cultivate  the  earth— to  make  De- 
troit self-sustaining  in  order  to  be  In- 
dependent of  Montreal  and  Quebec.  He 
was  nearly  successful.  He  would, 
doubtless,  have  succeeded  except  for 
his  Jesuit  enemies  and  the  opposition 
of  the  company. 

Plan  to  Rnln  the  Pont. 
Detroit  has  not  got  fairly  started 
before  Tonty  and  La  Forest,  who 
were  Cadillac's  chief  men  and  should 
have  been  his  advisers  and  as- 
sistants, were  involved  in  a  plan  to 
ruin  the  post.  They  arranged  a  meet- 
ing at  Mackinac  in  1701,  and  there 
formed  a  scheme  with  the  Jesuits 
to  establish  a  post  on  the  river  where 
the  Miami  Indians  were,  with  the 
intention  of  drawing  the  Indians  from 
Detroit  to  that  post.  Two  Jesuit 
priests.  Marmet  and  Davenant,  were 
engaged  in  the  affair,  and  the  gover- 
nor-general was  invited  to  send  a  gar- 
rison of  soldiers  to  assist  in  starting 
their  new  post,  undei-  pretext,  as  Cad- 
illac wrote,  that  the  English  would 
come  there  If  they  did  not  get  there 
first. 


♦  Ctoitiposed  of  AuteuH,   Juchereau  and  Pscaud. 


16 


P- 


Tonty  repented  of  his  part  la  this  af- 
fair, confessed  his  share  In  It  and 
WHS  pardoned  by  Cadillac,  nevertheless 
the  latter  looked  with  suspicion  on  all 
his  subsequent  acts.  He  wrote  that 
Tonty  was  an  Italian  and  (comparing 
him  with  the  great  Italian  Machla- 
velll)  that  like  a  good  scholar  of 
Naples  Tonty  betrayed  him,  working 
In  concert  with  the  missionaries  to 
overthrow  Detroit,  and  carrying  on 
his  Intrigues  with  so  much  cunning 
that  the  plot  was  not  discovered  for  a 
long  time. 

Falling  in  their  plans  to  successfully 
establish  a  new  post  In  the  Miami 
country,  in  order  to  draw  the  Indians 
from  Detroit,  reports  were  circulated 
among  the  Indians  and  repeated  by 
the  Jesuits  in  their  letters,  that  the 
land  at  Detroit  was  unfruitful,  the 
flshlng  bad,  the  hunting  rapidly  falling 
off  and  the  place  generally  unfit  for 
Indian  habitation;  then  came  the  pro- 
posal to  remove  Cadillac  and  appoint 
Tonty  in  his  place.  This  likewise  was 
unsuccessful. 

Feeling  hurt  at  the  charges  brought 
against  them  by  Cadillac,  the  Jesuits 
entered  Into  a  long  explanation  of 
their  actions  and  ended  by  saying 
that  however  much  they  might  feel 
aggrieved  by  Cadillac's  actions,  they 
were  working  for  the  Interests  of  the 
king  and  of  religion,  and  with  a  more 
Christllko  spirit  than  he  had  displayed, 
they  would  lay  their  resentment  at  the 
foot  of  the  crucifix. 

A  Gro^vliiK  Town. 

Cadillac  replied  that  while  it  might 
be  true  that  the  Jesuits  laid  their  re- 
sentment at  the  foot  of  the  crucifix, 
It  was  for  convenience  only,  and  that, 
as  their  vocation  carried  them  con- 
stantly to  the  crucifix  .they  could  find 
their  resentments  there  when  they 
wanted  them  again,  and  that  they  did 
find  them  In  a  very  short  time.  So 
the  merry  war  of  words  went  on,  and 
Detroit  grew  under  its  capable  man- 
ager. 

The  boundary  lines  of  the  little  vill- 
age were  extended  to  take  In  the  new 
houses  that  were  built;  Indian  villages 
were  established  in  the  neighborhood 
and  suhstanliaj  houses  built  for  the 
more  important  chiefs.  Cadillac  wrote, 
in  1703,  that  the  Indians  were  pleased 
with  these  houses  and  that  other  chiefs 


wanted  the  same  privileges.  This 
would  tend  to  keep  the  Indians  per- 
manently located  here.  "My  opinion  is 
that  this  Is  the  most  certain  way  to 
make  these  people  subjects  of  the 
king,  and  afterwards  to  make  them 
christians.  That  would  have  a  better 
effect  than  a  hundred  missionaries; 
for  it  is  certain  that  since  they  have 
been  preaching  the  gospel  to  these 
people,  they  have  made  no  progress, 
and  that  all  the  good  resulting  from  it 
may  be  reduced  to  the  baptism  by 
them  of  Infants  who  die  after  having 
received  it."  Truly  Cadillac  was  with- 
out the  odor  of  sanctity. 

A  MyNteriouM  Fire. 

A  fire  broke  out  in  the  fort  In  1703, 
which  threatened  to  destroy  it.  The 
mystery  surrounding  the  origin  of  this 
fire  gave  Cadillac  an,  opportunity  to 
lead  the  minister,  Pontchartraln,  to 
believe  that  this  also  was  the  work 
of  the  Jesuits.  His  account  of  the  af- 
fair .was  as  follows: 

"The  fort  was  set  on  fire,  the  fire 
having  been  put  in  a  barn  which  was 
flanked  by  two  bastions  and  was  full 
of  oc-n  and  other  crops.  The  flame,  by 
a  strong  wind,  burned  down  the 
church,  the  house  of  the  Recollet,  that 
of  de  Tonty  and  mine,  which  cost  me 
a  loss  of  400  pistoles,  which  I  could 
have  saved  if  I  had  been  willing  to  let 
the  company's  warehouse  burn,  and 
the  king's  ammunition.  I  even  had 
one  hand  burnt,  and  lost  for  the  most 
part  all  my  papers  in  It.  We  have  never 
been  able  to  ascertain  who  It  was  set 
fire  to  the  barn,  though  we  may  be 
able  to  obtain  some  information  about 
it  hereafter.  All  the  tribes  settled  at 
Detroit  assert  that  It  was  a  strange 
savage  who  did  this  deed,  or  rather-- 
they  say— some  Frenchman  w  ho  has 
been  paid  for  dolrvg  this  wicked  act. 
God  only  knows." 

In  this  confiagratlon  the  church  rec- 
ords were  destroye*!.  They  were  not 
very  extensive  to  be  sure,  but  they 
doubtless  contained  the  record  of  the 
birth  and  death  of  one  of  Cadillac's 
children  as  well  as  the  birth  and  death 
of  a  child  of  Tonty. 

We  have  seen  that  probably  the  com- 
pany of  the  colony  was  forme<l  at  the 
same  time  that  the  project  of  estab- 
li«hlng  Detroit  was  completed.  Cadil- 
lac  says    that   when  he   was    sent    to 


17 


Detroit  by  the  court  to  establish  the 
post  he  did  not  thlnlc  It  would  fall  into 
the  handfl  of  the  company,  and  UiAt 
if  he  had!  foreseen  it  he  would  not 
have  undertaken  it,  because  there  was 
as  much  difference  between  the  king 
and  the  company  as  between  a  pro- 
prietor and  his  tenant.  When  a  man 
manages  his  property  himself  he  has 
an  interest  In  not  letting  it  run  to 
ruin,  he  puts  up  with  the  bad  years, 
hoping:  to  recompense  himself  In  oth- 
ers. But  when  this  property  Is  In  the 
hands  of  a  selfish  farmer  he  sucks 
the  very  marrow  out  of  it,  while  it  Is 
in 'his  possession,  not  caring  what  may 
become  of  the  land  after  that.  When 
he  set  out  from  Montreal  he  did  so 
with  the  Intention,  shared  by  the  gov- 
ernor general,  of  making  a  success  of 
the  undertaking  of  the  settlement  of 
Detroit  In  order  to  succeed  In  it,  it 
was  necessary  not  to  apply  himself  to 
trading  only,  but  far  rather  to  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  i>ost,  the  owner- 
ship of  which  had  not  been  decided 
upon  between  the  crowns  of  France 
and  Bnsland. 

This  is  why  lit  waa  thought  advisable 
to  choose  good  men,  and  a  sufflclent 
number,  to  drive  the  enemy  out  of  it 
if  they  were  posted  there  before  him, 
or  to  be  prepared!  to  defend  himself 
in  case  he  should  be  attacked.  His 
boajta  t'herefore  were  loaded  with  quan- 
tities of  provisions.  Iron  and  tools  to 
enable  them  to  house  themselves  con- 
veniently, to  fortify  themselves,  and 
flnalily  to  prepare  themselves  for  re- 
pulsing the  enemy,  If  they  had  come 
there. 

Notwithstanding  the  work  which 
Cadillac  had  undertaken  and  the  tacit 
agreement  he  had  with  the  govern- 
ment that  this  place  and  its  trade 
should  be  his  exclusive  property,  the 
post  and  its  management  were  handed 
over  to  the  company  and  Oadillac  was 
to  manage  it  under  Its  direction. 

No  writer  of  this  period  of  Canadian 
history  omits  to  mention  and  dwell 
upon  the  total  corruption  of  all  men 
and  aU  affairs  connected  with  the 
management  of  the  colony.  One  would 


think  that  no  persons  held  office  or 
were  in  office  in  Canada,  from  gover- 
nor-general to  subordinate  clerks,  ex- 
cept thieves  and  blacklegs.  I>oubitleB8 
there  was  much  corruption  in  official 
circles,  "Neither  man  of  honor  nor 
men  of  parts  are  endured  In  Canada," 
writes  Oadillac.  "Nobody  can  live  hero 
but  simpletons  and  slavee  of  the  ec- 
c'.eslastlcal  domination."  It  is  nol 
surprising  that  this  corruption  extend- 
ed  to   the  company   of  the  colony. 

Corrnptinn  In   PnMlc  Affu'ra 

This  company  was  managed  by  a 
board  of  five  directors  at  Quebec,  and 
at  this  time  the  l>oard  consisted  of 
Lotbiniere,  elino,  RInaud  and  two 
others  whose  names  I  am  not  at  prea 
ent  able  to  ascertain;  possibly  they 
were  the  governor-general  and  Intend 
ant.*  The  directors  were  themselves 
very  corrupt,  and  they  provided  placet 
for  relatives  and  friends  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  government  and  the  eom 
pany.  Their  clerks,  In  turn,  were  cor- 
rupt and  dishonest  and,  if  we  mav 
believe  Oadillac,  not  only  stole  from 
the  company,  but  received  pardon  and 
protection    from    the  directors. 

Cadillac  detected  some  of  the  clerks 
of  the  company  at  Detroit  pilla«rlng 
the  company's  warehouse  and  com- 
plained to  the  governor-general.  One 
of  the  thieving  clerks  so  caught  was 
Arnaud,  son-in-law  of  Lotbiniere.  Lot- 
biniere was  the  uncle  of  Vaudreull, 
the  governor-general.  Another  dishon- 
est clerk  was  Nolan,  who  was  a 
brother-in-law  of  Delino,  another  waa 
Monseignot,  brother-in-law  of  Arnaud. 
Vlncelot,  who  was  sent  to  Detroit  to 
investigate,  was  cousin  of  RInaud. 
Chateleraut  and  Demcule,  clerks, 
were  relatives  of  Lotbiniere.  Lovlgny, 
a  major  of  Quebec,  who  came  to  De- 
troit with  Vlncelot,  was  a  brother-in- 
law  of  Nolan.  Chatelraud  was  also 
related  to  Lovlgny.  "A  prettier  family 
party    was   never  seen." 

A  DiHcnnrnKed  Commnniler. 

With  all  these  parties  intent  on 
stealing  from  the  company,  and  like- 
wise  Intent   on   placing  all   the  blame 


•It  seems  almost  Impossible  to  keep  track  of  (hose  French  ofllclals  by  their  names. 
In  the  agreement  made  with  CafilUac  In  1705.  th^  agents  of  the  company  are  named 
as  follows:  Rene  T^i^uls  Chartler,  Seignior  de  I»tblnlere,  chief  councillor  of  the  bu- 
preme  council  of  the  country;  George  Renaud  Duplessis,  Seignior  de  Louzon, 
treasurer  of  the  navy;  Phlllpes  de  RIgault,  Marquis  de  Vandreull,  knight  of  the  Mili- 
tary Order  of  Saint  Lnuls.  governor  and  lleutennnt-genernl  for  his  majesty;  Jacques 
Raudot.  councillor  for  the  king  In  his  lounoils,  Intondaiit  of  justice,  police  and 
finance;  Francois  de  Reauharnols,  Hnight  seignior  of  La  Chaussoye  Beaumont  and 
other  places,  councillor  of  the  king  la  his  councils,  intendant-general  of  the  navy 
and  formerly  Intendant  of  New   France. 


• 


IS 


on  Cadillac's  Bhouldera,  that  they 
might  force  hiB  removal  and  thus 
ruin  Detroit,  which  was  an  object  to 
them,  as  they  desired  no  permanent 
settlement,  it  Is  no  wonder  that  Cadil- 
lac Kot  nearly  discouraged.  The  clerks 
he  caught  stealing  from  the  company's 
warehouse  he  compelled  to  make  a 
written  confession  of  their  theft.  They 
roraplalnod  to  their  superiors,  who 
were  their  relatives,  that  Cadillac 
was  engaged  In  trade  on  his  own  be- 
half and  contrary  to  the  order  of  the 
company.  Cadillac  was  ordered  to 
proceed  to  Quebec  to  meet  the  charges 
made  against  him.  Before  starting 
from  Detroit  Cadillac  had  ordered  one 
of  the  clerks,  Denoyer,  to  be  im- 
prisoned, and  as  this  action  was  one 
of  the  principal  offenses  with  which 
Cadillac  was  charged,  we  will  give 
the  affair  as  he  relates  It. 

"That"  (the  Imprisonment  of  De- 
noyer) "Is  my  great  crime,  and  fhey 
declare  that  they  will  be  even  with 
me  for  having,  as  they  call  it,  tho 
audacity  to  Imprison  one  of  their 
servants  whom  they  appointed  as  their 
principal  clerk,  a  waif  and  a  poor 
wretch  who  came  here  not  knowing 
which  way  to  turn  on  his  arrival  in 
this  country.  As  to  my  powers  they 
are  very  ample,  being  to  punish,  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances,  by  cen- 
sures, by  reprimands,  by  arrests,  by 
Imprisonment  or  by  deprivation  of 
civil  rights,  and,  In  ease  of  distinct 
disobedience,  to  run  my  sword 
through  any  one  who  has  so  offended 
against  me.  It  Is  by  reason  of  the 
remoteness  (from  Quebec)  that  these 
orders  have  always  been  given  to 
me  and  on  account  of  the  seditions 
and  Intrigues  which  have  been  at- 
tempted to  be  formed  here,  which  I 
have  known  quite  well  how  to  re- 
press. A  soldier  of  the  garrison  hav- 
ing been  killed  by  the  enemy,  the 
savages  reported  that  they  had  found 
the  stake  to  which  he  had  been  bound. 
On  this  report  a  party  of  about  one 
hundred  savages  of  different  tribes 
was  Instantly  formed  to  pursue  and 
try  to  avenge  the  soldier's  death. 
They  asked  me  for  seven  or  eight 
Frenchmen  to  go  with  them,  and  hav- 
ing granted  them  this,  I  ordered  M. 
de  Tonty  to  command  eight  good  men 
of    the   employes   of   the   company,    to 


take  those  who  voluntarily  offered 
themselves,  and  to  have  provisions 
and  ammunition  given  them  out  of 
the  company's  wafehouse,  according 
to   custom. 

"Denoyer,  the  principal  clerk,  main- 
tained that  I  could  not  form  any  de- 
tachment for  the  king's  service  out  of 
the  employes  of  the  company  without 
his  permission,  and  that  they  could 
not  go  outside  the  fort  without  tell- 
ing him  of  it,  that  the  matter  should 
be  so  arranged  or  he  would  take  strong 
measures.  The  Canadians  engaged  for 
the  company's  service  having  com- 
plained to  Mr.  de  Tonty,  who  had 
commanded  them,  he  came  and  made 
his  complaints  to  me.  Having  heard 
him  I  sent  for  them  and  after  I  had 
queatlone*!  them  and  they  had  de- 
posed to  what  Is  aixjve  stated.  In  the 
presence  of  witnesses,  I  sent  for  Mr. 
Denoyer.  Having  asked  him  whether 
Ih  Was"  true  that  he  malntalnred  that 
I  had  no  power  to  detach  the  com- 
pany's employes  for  the  king's  ser- 
vice without  telling  him  of  it  and 
without  his  leave,  he  had  the  Imper- 
tinence to  maintain  to  my  face,  Mr. 
de  Tonty  being  present,  that  he  did 
rot  deny  It,  but  that  he  did  not  be'Jeve 
I  had  this  power.  This  reply  made 
will  all  possible  arrogance,  compelled 
me  to  send  him  to  prison  with  these 
woids,  'I  will  teaoh  you,  you  little 
clerk,  to  swerve  froim  your  d'uty  and 
to  raise  sedition  by  eetrangHng  mlnde 
from   obedience.'  " 

The  prison  was  the  sergeants  quar- 
ters, and  the  clerk,  Denoyer,  remained 
in  It  about  three  hours.  Denoyer  re- 
lated the  affair  to  bis  uncle  Lotblnlere 
and,  as  the  result,  a  suit  was  com- 
menced a#radnst  Cadillac  as  soon  as  he 
arrived  at  Quebec  In  anawer  to  the 
summons  of  the  company,  and  he  was 
arrested  or  detained  by  Rameaay,  com- 
mandant of  the  city,  until  he  should 
answer  this  charge  and  three  either 
counts  which  composed  the  petition 
of    the    company. 

ComiiliiinlniiT  to  Pontdinrtrnin. 

As  we  have  seen  above,  shortly  after 
Cadillac  had  first  set  foot  at  Detroit, 
he  suspected  his  companion,  Tonty,  of 
plotting  against  him,  and  he  accused 
him  of  his  Improper  conduct.  Tonty 
acknoiwledged  his  wrong-doing  and 
promised    to    behave    himself    In    the 


19 


future.  When  Ctbdlllac  was  oi^red  to 
repair  to  Quebec  Tonty  al'Ho  cnme  in*] 
was  accuBed  of  trading.  Instead  of 
punishing  him  the  company,  flndlng 
him  a  fit  tool  for  their  purposes,  sent 
hilm  back  to  Detroit  and  gave  him  a 
pension  of  600  Uvres  a  year  and  put 
him  In  command  durlnj?  OarUllac's  ab- 
sence. Cadillac,  feedin«r  that  he  could 
gret  no  Justice  from  Canoilian  offlcdala, 
appealed  at  once  to  Pontchartrain  and 
sent  him  a  long  account  of  Mb  trouble. 
To  further  complicate  the  entansle- 
ment  Detroit  was  already  In,  the  gov- 
ernor-general, for  the  sake  of  disrupt- 
ing Detroit,  permitted  Lieutenant  In- 
come, who  was  the  commandant  at 
Port  Prontenac,  to  employ  tlie  Iro- 
quois, or  at  least  to  encourage  these 
warlike  Indians  to  carry  on  war 
against  the  Indians  located  at  Detroit, 
and  of  this  Cadillac  complained  to 
Pontchartrain. 

Cadillac'*     Powem     IncreaNed. 

While  these  complaints  were  on  the 
way  to  Paris,  a  letter  from  the  count 
was  crossing  the  Atlantic,  which  di- 
rected the  company  of  the  colony  to 
surrender  the  management  of  Detroit 
to  Cadillac.  He  was  to  have  the  en- 
tire profit  of  the  post;  he  could  not 
trade  at  Mackinac  or  In  the  more  dis- 
tant quarters,  but  he  was  permitted 
to  attract  all  the  Indians  to  Detroit 
that  he  could.  The  trade  in  beaver 
skins  had  been  carried  on  in  such 
vast  quantities  that  the  market  was 
overstocked,  and  one  of  the  problems 
of  the  times  was  how  to  curtail  the 
supply.  Cadillac,  In  numbers  of  his 
letters,  states  that  he  has  been  suc- 
cessful In  this  matter,  by  Inducing  the 
Indians  to  bring  in  other  skins  and 
furs,  and  by  devoting  a  portion  of  their 
time  to  husbandry  and  other  occupa- 
tions than  hunting  beavers.  The  king 
and  his  ministers  also  turned  their  at- 
tention to  the  matter,  and  tried  vari- 
ous ways  to  make  the  supply  and  de- 
mand  equal    each   other. 

The  new  provisions  of  trade  under 
which  Detroit  was  turned  over  to  Cad- 
illac required  the  company  to  accept 
from  the  traders  of  Canada  150,000 
Uvres  worth  of  beaver  skins  (castors) 
per  year,  and  of  this  quantity,  Cadillac 
was  to  be  permitted,  under  the  new 
arrangement,  to  supply  15,000  or  at 
most  20,000  Uvres  worth  per  year,  but 
he  could  furnish  as  many  other  furs 


and  skins  as  he  liked.  Vandreull  and 
Hoauharnols  were  directed  to  assist 
him  in  ail  ways  they  could,  and  to 
give  him  such  soldiers  as  he  require<l. 
All  these  orders  were  accompanied  by  . 
the  good  wishes  of  Pontchartrain,  who 
writes:  "WHh  all  this  assistance,  and 
any  other  Just  and  reasonable  request 
you  may  make,  which  his  majesty 
will  grant  you,  he  hopes  you  will  suc- 
ceed In  realizing  the  outline  you  have 
given  of  this  post.  Prom  this  success 
you  may  expect  favors  from  his  ma- 
jesty proportioned  to  the  service  you 
render;  and  you  may  count  on  my 
contributing  on  my  part  to  procuring 
th^  for  you  as  far  as  I  can.  I  am 
explaining  the  intentions  of  his  ma- 
jesty on  this  subject  definitely  to 
Messrs.  Vandreuil  and  Beauharnols, 
and  to  the  directors  of  the  company, 
so  that  in  future  you  may  find  no 
more  obstacles  In  this  post.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  on  your  side  you  will  act 
like  a  man  of  honor,  and  will  give  no 
ground  for  complaint  against  your  con- 
duct, especially  as  reganls  the  beaver 
skins,  the  trade  in  which  you  will 
confine  to  the  said  sum  of  15,000  or 
20.000  Uvres.  Matters  being  thus 
orvlered,  you  will  have  no  more  con» 
tests  with  the  Jesuits,  nor  with  any- 
one." 

A  ReqneMt  Wlitcii  Wnw  Denleil. 

Cadillac  had  asked  that  he  be  grant- 
ei  the  right  of  high,  middle  and  .ow 
justice,  and  desired  that  Detroit  be 
created  a  marquisate  for  his  benefit, 
but  this  request  was  denied.  "Work  to 
compass  the  success  of  this  settlement 
and  after  that  you  shall  not  lack  con- 
cessions, nor  even  posts  more  impor- 
tant than  that  you  now  have." 

He  was  permitted  to  make  grants 
of  land  for  the  interests  of  the  new 
colony.  As  this  was  the  first  French 
colony  which  it  was  attempted  to  es- 
tablish in  the  West,  its  interests  wre 
very  much  in  the  hearts  of  the  king 
and  Pontchartrain. 

So  long  as  the  company  of  the  col- 
ony had  charge  of  Detroit  It  waj  a 
trading  post  only,  but  as  soon  as  the 
entire  control  passed  to  Cadillac,  it 
was  the  king's  Intention  that  a  colony 
should  be  formed  there,  that  Ian  Is 
should  be  granted  to  people  to  fanis, 
and  that  the  soldiers  should  be  per- 
mitted  to  marry   and   settle. 


20 


In  conformity  with  th<«ne  dlrpcllonB 
the  company  put  ('lulllliic  In  ponsfs- 
Blon  of  Detroit  on  the  2f>th  of  Sei>tcin- 
ber,  170B,  and  tht-y  rctlrwl  from  the 
post. 

Constantly  making  new  Impro^rr- 
mentH  and  adfllnj?  to  the  value  of  tho 
property  he  hal  accumulated  there,  he 
continued  In  Its  posseaslon  until  1710. 
During  thiB  period  he  had  hullt  hoisoa, 
cultivated  farms,  brought  cattle  and 
other  anIm.ilH,  and  at  least  one  homn 
named  Colin  to  the  place,  made 
grants  of  farm  lands,  gardens  and 
village  lots  to  those  who  came  to  sot- 
tie  there,  and  carried  on  an  extensive 
trade. 

After  the  fire  of  1708  Cadillac  at  once 
set  about  repairing  t^e  loss  as  well 
as  possible,  pu't  up  a  new  church  and 
repaired  or  rebuilt  the  burned  dwoH- 
Ings  and  store  houses. 
Appnlnt«>«l  0«i>Frn<>r  of  Lonlalnnn. 

In  ino  the  king  appointed  him  gov- 
ernor uf  Louisiana  and  directed  him 
to  proceed  there  at  once  overland,  and 
not  to  return  to  Quebec.  He  was  In- 
structed to  see  I^a  Forest,  who  was 
appointed  hlr  successor  In  the  com- 
mand of  Detroit,  and  give  him  bucIi 
Instructions  as  might  be  necessary  In 
hla  new  post,  and  to  surrender  every- 
thing  to  him. 

Cadillac  supposed  that  the  property 
he  had  at  Detroit,  which  consisted  of 
the  exclusive  right  of  trading,  all  the 
lands  except  euch  as  he  had  conveyed 
and  the  rents  from  the  lands  conveyed, 
the  cattle,  merchMndlse,  bulldlngt-^  and 
property,  would  be  taken  by  La  For- 
est and  paid  for  by  him.  He  claimed 
an  extent  of  territory  twenty-five 
leagues  In  length  along  each  sl<le  of 
the  Detroit  River,  extending  from  Lake 
Erie  to  Lake  Huron,  by  200  leagues  In 
depth— 90,000  square  miles  In  territory. 
To  this  modest  land  claim  his  wife, 
who  remained  at  Detroit  after  hla  de- 
parture, had  a  minute  Inventory  drawn 
up  on  the  25th  of  August,  1711,  and 
subscribed  by  Pierre  Chesne  and  An- 
tolne  Magnant,  Inhabitants  of  the 
nlace.  showing  all  the  personal  prop- 
erty that  Cadillac  claimed  to  own, 
and  which  property  was  then  handed 
over  to  Pierre  Roy  to  be  kept  for  their 
owner.  Up  to  the  time  of  Cadillac's 
dep:irture  he  had  made  at  least  400 
grants  of  land,  and  he  writes:    "If  the 


greater  part  of  them  had  not  been 
driven  away  or  harassed  It  would  now 
be  a  very  (Ine  colony.  It  la  deplorable 
to  .nee  families  which  had  sold  every- 
thing at  Quebec  or  elsewhere,  In  or- 
der to  settle  at  Detroit,  being  driven 
from  It  by  the  greed  of  certain  per- 
sons who  have  profited,  and  fltlll  profit, 
by  what  lawfully  belongs  to  them 
(these   poor   people)," 

TiikliiK    Ciullllnc   Property   'With- 
out   Coinp«*nMntlon. 

La  Forest  did  not  go  to  Detroit,  but 
obtained  an  order  from  VandreuH  to 
turn  tho  command  of  the  post  over 
to  Sabrevoir,  who  retained  It  but  a 
short  time  and  then  he  surrendered  It 
to  Tonty,  who  had  been  first  the  com- 
panion and  later  the  enemy  of  Cadil- 
lac and  always  the  slave  of  Vandreull. 
Cadillac  complained  bitterly  and  Justly 
of  their  taking  all  this  property  with- 
out making  compensation  to  him  for  It. 
When  the  post  had  been  Hurrendered 
to  hlin  '.n  1705,  under  orders  from  the 
king,  a  review  of  the  detichment  he 
was  taking  to  Detroit  was  held  at 
Lichlne  by  the  Messrs.  Randot,  Sr., 
and  Jr.  It  consisted  of  200  sollters, 
eight  officers,  two  almoners  and  mis- 
sionaries and  forty  families.  He  had 
taken  to  Detroit,  he  says,  domestic 
animals  of  all  kinds,  all  sorts  of  grains 
antl  seeds,  even  to  fruit  trees  In  boxes, 
all  tools  for  carpentry,  for  joinery, 
axes  and  locks  of  all  kinds,  materials 
for  building  a  windmill  co.sting  1,000 
pistoles,  a  barge,  all  the  Iron  work 
for  the  fort.  He  built  a  fort  with 
e'.ght  bastions,  all  the  lodging  places 
for  the  troops,  a  suitable  and  well 
ornamented  church,  a  fine  warehouse, 
a  powder  magazine,  a  pigeon  houas, 
an  Ice  house,  a  brewery  for  beer, 
a  barn  eighty  feet  long.  A  hundred 
Canadians  were  brought  to  work  In 
transporting  materials  besides  the 
workmen  and  soldiers,  who  were  paid 
thirty  sous  per  day  when  they  worked. 
He  remained  only  four  years  after 
commencing  this  undertaking,  doing 
nothing  but  paying  out  money,  and 
when  the  time  came  that  he  might 
commence  to  recoup  himself  he  was 
sent   to  Louisiana. 

Kxplored    the    MiaHlNHlppi    Vnlley 
for  Silver. 

He  did  not  proceed  to  his  new  post 
overland  as  he  was  directed,  but  went 


n 


to  Montreal  to  aeo  about  tho  scttlo- 
meiit  uf  hlM  Detroit  iirtiilrH,  unci  from 
thence  proceefled  to  (jut'bec  on  tho 
Bumo  orrantl.  He  went  to  Frame 
from  Quebec  and  from  there  sailed 
to  the  Louisiana  Colony  In  company 
with  a  ship  load  of  marrlaKeable  glrU 
Bent  out  from  the  mother  country  to 
became  wives  of  the  colonists.  Ho 
sailed  on  the  frigate  Le  Baron  de  la 
FoHse  and  arrived  In  the  colony  with 
his  wife  and  chlldiren  on  June  IB,  1713, 
(Margry  says  In  1712).  By  his  direction 
Natchez  was  founded  In  1713.  I..ako 
Pontchartrain,  near  New  Orleans,  was 
named  after  his  friend  and  benefactor. 
Count  Pontchartrain,  as  was  also  Lake 
Maurepas,  after  Count  Maurepaa  who 
was  a  son  of  Jerome  Phelypeaux, 
Count   Pontchartrain. 

Here,  as  at  Detroit,  ho  was  full 
of  complaints  against  many  of  those 
who  were  his  superiors,  and  tho  De- 
partment of  Marine  Is  flooded  with 
his  correspondence  and  memoranda  on 
the  subject.  He  explored  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  for  the  entire 
length  within  hla  Jurisdiction  for  silver 
but  could  find  none  thoug'h  he  did 
find  lead  ore. 

Anthony  Crozat  had  the  exclusive 
right  of  trading  In  Louisiana  and,  to 
a  certain  extent,  Cadillac  was  sub- 
ject to  his  orders  and  directions. 
Crozat  became  Impatient  at  tho  con- 
tinued fault-flndlngs  of  Cadillac  and 
wished  him  removed  from  oflflce.  In 
March,  1717,  L'Eplnay  was  appointed 
a  successor  to  Cadillac  and  a  few 
months  later  Crozat  was  relieved  from 
his  contract  for  the  support  of  Louis- 
iana and  the  exclusive  rights  he  had 
held  were  turned  over  to  a  company. 
Cndllluc  IiniVrlMuncd  In  the  nnii- 
tUe. 

Our  Interest  in  Cadillac  ceases  with 
his  removal  from  Detroit,  but  the 
life  of  a  man  who  filled  so  large  a 
place  In  the  early  history  of  the  new 
world  should  be  better  known  than 
his  Is  at  the  present  time.  It  Is  diffl- 
cult  to  trace  his  steps  after  leaving 
Louisiana.  From  a  note  on  one  of  the 
pages  of  Margry  it  would  appear  that 
in  1718  he  was  imprisoned  In  Paris 
in  the  Bastlle  and  was  liberated  there- 
from on  the  eth  of  February  In  that 
year. 

Why  was  he  imprisoned  and  for  how 


long  a  time?  Tho  records  of  the  Bas- 
tilc  wtTi'  Hcitti-rt'd  to  the  four  winds 
at  the  time  of  tho  "Hundred  DayM"  in 
1>15,  an<l  many  of  the  document!*  were 
KatluTtd  by  the  UuhsIp"  .Moldlers  and 
taki-n  to  the  great  llbraij  In  St.  Peters- 
burg, whiTo  iht'y  now  are.  It  Is  not 
known  that  any  list  i)f  prisoners  Is  In 
exldtt-nce,  A  recent  writer  in  Quebec.Mr. 
PhlltMH  Oagnon,  In  his  Hplendid  work 
"Hlhllogriiphie  Ca  iidlenne,"  »iy»<  that 
he  thinks  the  note  In  Margr.v  relative 
to  Cadillac's  being  in  the  Itastlle, 
crept  In  by  accident.  Margry  further 
Hays  that  Cadillac's  essay  on  Mack- 
inac was  written  a  few  monthe  after 
he   was   liberated. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  a  man  of 
the  active  temperament  of  Cadillac 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  life,  for 
he  did  not  die  till  Oct.  18.  1730,  In  re- 
tirement, though  we  know  little  of  his 
whereabouts  during  this  period. 

Concerning  Cadillac's  family  tho 
church  records  are  sometimes  silent 
regarding  the  baptism  of  children 
whose  births  are  spoken  of  in  his  let- 
ters, and  In  some  cases,  as  at  Port 
Royal,  we  believe  the  records  to  hava 
been  destroyed. 

Cndillac'ii  Children. 

From  all  the  information  I  can  ob- 
tain and  with  the  assistance  of  my 
valued  friend,  Father  Christian  Denis- 
sen,  of  St.  Charles'  Church,  Detroit, 
who  Is  making  a  special  study  of  the 
genealogy  of  the  old  French  families 
of  Detroit,  I  believe  the  following  to 
be  a  pretty  correct  list  of  Cadillac's 
children: 

Magdelene,  a  daughter,  probably 
born  at  Port  Royal,  or  Mount  Desert; 
Antolne,  born  at  Quebec,  April  26,  1692, 
came  to  Detroit  with  his  father; 
James,  born  at  Quebec,  March  16,  1696, 
came  to  Detroit  with  his  mother; 
Peter  Denis,  born  at  Quebec,  June  13, 
1699,  and  burled  there  July  4,  1700; 
Mary  Ann,  born  at  Quebec,  June  7  and 
burled  there  June  9,  1701.  A  child  was 
born  at  Detroit  in  the  latter  part  of 
1702,  mentioned  in  one  of  Cadillac's 
letters;  the  baptismal  record  was 
probably  destroyed  by  the  fire  In  1703. 
Mary  Therese,  born  at  Detroit,  Feb.  2, 
1704;  John  Anthony,  born  at  Detroit, 
Jan.  19,  1707,  and  burled  there  April  9, 
1709. 


Mary  Acatha,  bom  at  Detroit,  Dec. 
28,  1707. 

Francis,  bom  at  Detrott,  March  27, 
1709. 

Rene  Louis,  born  at  Detroit,  March 
17,  1710,  and  burled  at  Quebec,  Oct.  7, 
1714.  His  parents  must  have  placed  him 
with  some  members  of  his  mother's 
family  wihen  they  left  Canada,  for,  at 
this  date,  both  his  father  and  mother 
were  in  Louisiana. 

There  was  possibly  anoiher  dau^^hter. 
as  in  one  of  the  letters  written  regard- 
Ing  the  departure  of  Madam  Cadillac 
tor  Quebec  In  1701,  it  Is  stated  that  she 
left  her  daughiters  with  the  nuns  of 
the  UrsuJlne  convent,  and  the  only 
daughter,  whose  name  we  have,  at 
this  time,  was  Magdelene.  Thus  we 
have  ascertained)  the  existence  of 
twelve  children,  and  there  was  one 
more  son,  Joseph,  who  is  mentioned  in 
the  following   transactions: 

At  various  times  during  Cadillac's 
life  after  leaving  Louiisaana,  he  peti- 
tioned the  regent  of  France  to  grant 
him  the  possession  of  his  Detroit  prop- 
erty or  Its  equivalent,  and  In  1720,  the 
king,  on  the  advice  of  the  duke  of  Or- 
leans, his  uncle,  the  legent,  directed 
Cadillac's  property  to  be  returned  to 
him,  but  the  governor-general  and  in- 
tendant,  while  confessing  themselves 
wiliiug  to  act  in  the  matter, 
raisedifc,  serious  objections.  to  cir- 
rylng^F  out  the  orders  of  the 
king.  They  thought,  however,  that 
he  should  be  given  the  sum  of  4,359 
livres  for  property  taken  for  the  king's 
use.  It  would  seem  that  Cadillac  ne- 
glected or  refused  to  accept  this  sum. 
In  some  manner  he  obtained  the  ap- 
pointment as  governor  of  Castell  Sar- 
razin  In  France,  possibly  In  conse- 
quence of  his  Detroit  troubles,  and  he 
retained  this  governorship  until  his 
death. 

After  his  death,  in  1733,  his  widow  and 
two  sons,  Francis  and  Joseph  surviv- 
ing him,  one  of  his  sons  petitioned 
for  the  re-estabU»hment  of  the  family 
at  Detroit,  with  their  ancient  rights, 
und  he  requests  that,  if  this  cannot  be 
done,  the  royal  revenues  of  Castell  Sar- 
razin   be   turned   over    to    them,    or   a 


pension  sufficient  for  their  support  fOr 
life. 

Sold  (or  SO.OOO  Ilvrea. 

Not  receiving  a  satisfactory  reply  to 
this  petition,  in  1738,  Joseph,  acting 
for  himself  and  for  his  mother  and 
only  surviving  brother,  Francis,  gave 
a  deed  of  all  their  rights  to  the  De- 
troit property  for  50,000  livres,  to  one 
Bernard  Maichens,  of  Marseilles. 
Malchens  paid  25,000  livres  down  and 
never  paid  any  more;  he  probably 
found  his  purchase  worthless,  and  I 
find  no  mention  of  his  undertaking 
to  claim  it. 

In  1745  Joseph  filed  another  petition 
with  the  Count  de  Mau'-epas,  asking 
him  to  "grant  to  him  an  order  to 
the  governor  general  of  C  <,nada  and 
other  officers  of  Detroit  on  Lake  Erie, 
to  allow  him  or  his  agent  to  go  freely 
to  these  places  and  to  return  from 
them  and  to  enjoy  fully  and  peaceful- 
ly his  rights  fixed  by  the  decree  of 
the  court  in  1732."  The  petition  was 
granted,    but    nothing    came    of    it. 

At  the  end  of  the  century  a  grand- 
daughter petitioned  the  state  of  Mass- 
achusetts to  be  permitted  to  have  the 
island  of  Mount  Desert,  and  she  ob- 
tained all  of  it  that  had  not  previous- 
ly been  granted  to  other  parties,  but 
nothing  further  was  ever  done  with 
their  Detroit  interests. 

I  am  aware  that  this  attempt  to  fol- 
low the  thread  of  Cadillac's  life  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave  is  incom- 
plete, and  that  the  thread  is  broken 
in  many  places,  but  I  feel  confident 
that  I  have  collected  many  facts  here- 
tofore unpublished  regarding  him,  and 
I  shall  await  with  pleasure  the  criti- 
cisms of  those  who  know  other  facte 
concerning   his   life. 

Few  men  In  the  early  history  of 
this  hemisphere  have  left  their  names 
affixed  to  so  many  places  as  has  the 
founder  of  our  city. 

If  France  can  claim  him  by  right 
of  birth  and  sepulture,  Acadia  claims 
him  as  a  seigneur,  Quebec  as  a  citizen, 
Mackinac  a»  commandant,  Detroit  as 
founder  and  Louisiana  as  a  governor. 
C.    M.    BURTON. 


I 


A  Letter  from  Mr.  R.  R.  Elliott  to  the  News-Tribune. 


Mr.  Bnrton'H   "Joke  on  a  Jeanlt." 

To  the  EMI  tor:  I  have  not  yel  read  Mr. 
Burton' 8  sketch  of  Cadillac,  as  I  prefer 
to  wait  until  the  entire  work  has  been 
published. 

But  when  cutting  out  the  eecond  article 
from  last  Sunday's  News-Tribune,  I  no- 
ticed that  it  commenced  with  a  "Joke  on 
a  Jesuit,",  being  an  Incident  related  by  Cad- 
illac In  scurrilous  language  about  Fr.  Vall- 
lant,  the  Jesuit  missionary,  who  had  ac- 
companied the  Recollect  martyr  Fr.  Del- 
halle  In  the  first  expedition'  of  Cadillac  In 
1701. 

Probably  no  citizen  of  Detroit  since  Ite 
American  history  began,  has  expended  so 
much  money,  or  devoted  so  much  time  in 
the  collection  of  authentic  documents  re- 
lating to  Its  French  history,  and  of  Its 
original  colonists,  aa  has  Mr.  Clarence  M. 
Burton,  whose  collection  is  probably  un- 
equaled   by   any    In   America. 

Other  states  interested  in  the  history  of 
this  frontier,  have  done  much  in  this  con- 
nection; Michigan,  as  a  state  so  much  more 
interested,  has  done  nothing.  Those  only 
who  have  made  the  French  history  of  De- 
troit their  study,  can  appreciate  how  much 
U  due  to  Mr.  Burton,  for  the  additional 
light  he  has  shed  upon  much  that  had  re- 
mained oMscure   in  this  history. 

Unfortunately,  in  the  present  Instance, 
Mr.  Burton  has  done,  as  others  have  done 
before  him,  an  injustice,  In  indorsing  a 
story  of  Cadillac  which  has  n  flctitioufi 
foundation.  Oascon  as  he  was,  the  roman- 
tl3  and  adventurous  founder  of  Detroit  was 
as  loquacious  in  the  use  of  his  pen  as  he 
was  with  his  tongue;  for  he  said  and  wrote 
much  of  questionable   authority. 

The  "Joke  on  a  Jesuit,"  without  this 
caption,  will  be  found  In  extenso  In  "The 
Early  History  of  Michigan,  from  the  First 
Settlement  to  1815,"  by  Mrs.  E.  M.  Shel- 
don,  New  York,   Barnes  &  Co.,   1856. 

It  Is  In  one  of  the  "Cadillac  Papers,"  tran- 
scripts of  which  General  Cass  had  taken 
when  he  w:is  minister  at  the  French  court, 
1836-42— which,  with  others  of  the  same 
kind,  had  been  translated  and  published 
under  the  title  above  given. 

From  1856  until  1884  the  "Cadillac  Papers" 
were  considered  by  historical  students  in 
this  vicinity  as  "the  Oenesis  of  the  French 
history  of  Detroit." 

The  translated  document  in  which  the 
"Joke"    is  related   is  to  be  found  In  Shel- 


don, and  covers  pages  140-204.  In  this  docu- 
ment It  Is  stated  by  Cadillac,  that  In 
1704.  the  Count  de  Pontchartraln,  min- 
ister of  state  under  Louis  XIV..  came, 
at  the  former's  request,  to  Quebec,  to  In- 
vestigate the  troubles  existing  between  the 
founder  of  Detroit  and  the  authorities  of 
New  France.  Cadillac  states  that  he  was 
brought  before  the  count  at  the  chateau 
of  St.  Louis  In  Quebec,  and  when  asked  to 
defend  his  conduct,  related  his  experience 
from  the  time  of  his  landing  at  Detroit; 
he  airs  his  quarrels  with  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  trouble  which  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Canada  Company  had  caused 
him,  and  ascribes  the  Indian  hostility, 
tile  burning  of  a  portion  of  the  post,  and 
other  misfortunes,  to  the  Intrigues  and 
opposition  of  the  Jesuit  missionarlps,  and 
cites    the    "joke"    incident    among    others. 

Mrs.  Sheldon's  translation  of  this  docu- 
ment is  sjmewhat  faulty;  but  the  reader 
of  Mrs.  Sheldon  and  of  Mr.  Burton 
might,  unless  they  knew  the  facts,  con- 
ceive a  poor  opinion  of  Father  Valllant. 
Father  Francis  Vaillant  de  Gueslis,  S.  J., 
like  others  of  this  order,  engaged  In 
missionary  work  in  Canada,  was  of  nJble 
lineage.  He  was  ordained  at  Quebec  In 
1675.  He  had  been  a  missionary  with  the 
Mohawks  from  1679,  untH  obliged  to  leave 
the  valley  In  1683.  He  was  one  of  the 
chaplains  in  De  Nonvilie's  expedition 
against  the  Senecas  in  1687;  in  1688,  he  was 
sent  by  the  governor-general  of  New  France 
as  special  envoy  to  Governor  Dongan,  of 
New    York. 

He  was  again  with  the  Scenecas  as 
missionary    from    1703    to    1707. 

This  eminent  missionary,  who  had  lived 
with  the  dreaded  Mohawks  for  years;  who 
had  served  In  the  famous  Seneca  campaign, 
who  was  chosen  to  treat  with  the  ablest 
provincial  governor  the  colony  of  New  York 
ever  had  under  British  rule,  and  who 
lived  again  as  a  missionary  in  tlie  Seneca 
cantons  until  his  mission  was  broken  up 
by  British  intrigue,  could  not  have  played 
such  a  cowardly  part  before  such  an  ad- 
venturer   as    was    his    traducer. 

He  retired,  probably  Under  Instructions, 
when  he  had  found  how  matters  were 
lielng  shaped;  for  he  returned  by  way  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  while  stopping  at  Fort 
Frontenac,  Madame  Cadillac  arrived  and 
tarried  there,  to  who.m  Father  Valllant  (ave 


24 


the  first  news  she  had  had  from  her  hus- 
band, whom  she  was  heroically  bound  to 
Join. 

But  the  story  as  given  by  Mr.  Burtrii 
rests  upon  9  gross  historical  fiction,  wh'ch 
had  long  been  admitted  In  Detroit  as  fos- 
pel  In  Its  French  genesis.  Although  given 
out  by  Sheldon,  and  accepted  by  Judge 
Campbell  and  others,  the  story  of  Pontchar- 
traln's  coming  to  Quebec  was  proved  to  bo 
fictitious  by  Mr.  Bela  Hubbard  and  myself 
In  January,  1884,  when  the  latter  gentle- 
man drew  from  Pierre  Margry  the  fol- 
lowing admission,    which  I  translate — 

"The  Count  de  Pontchartraln  never  came 
to  Quebec;  evidently  those  who  accept  this 
Idea  are  deceived,  the  statement  of  Mrs. 
Sheldon  and  of  Judge  Campbell  to  the  con- 
trary nothwithstanding. 

The  fact  is,  the  "Cadillac  papers"  In 
French  American  history  are  as  unreliable 
as  are  the  voluminous  writings  of  La  Hon- 
tan,    and    they    are    quoted    by    reputable 


writers  only  when  corroborated  by  contem- 
porary authority. 

Even  Judg«  Campbell,  on  page  64  of  his 
charmng  work,  has  this  to  say  of  Cad- 
illac's scurrilous  remarks  of  Father  Stephen 
de  Carhell,  S.  J.:  "Father  Carhell  was  a 
devoted  and  good  nan,  and  his  zeal  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Indians  from  demoralis- 
ing influences  (under  Cadillac's  administra- 
tion at  MIchilmaclnac)  was  commendable 
and  in  some  degree  efficacious." 

The  question  will  occur  to  the  readers  of 
Cadillac's  statement"  If  he  told  such  a  big 
lie  about  Pontchartraln  coming  to  Quebec, 
how  much  reliance  oan  be  placed  upon 
his  other  statements" 

Some  Important  Informntlon  may  be  con- 
tained In  the  evidence  given  on  both  sides, 
during  Cadillac's  lengthy  litigation  in  Que- 
bec, transcripts  of  which  Mr.  Burton  has 
probably  procured  and  which  may  appear 
In  his  subsequent  articles. 

RICHARD   R.   BLLIOTT. 


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